The U.S. Impact Investing Alliance today submitted public comments to the IFRS Foundation in response to the Consultation Paper on Sustainability Reporting. The IFRS Foundation is a not-for-profit international organisation responsible for developing a single set of high-quality global accounting standards, known as IFRS Standards. The Consultation Paper solicits public comment on the proposed creation of a new Sustainability Standards Board (SSB) that would look to promote consistent and comparable corporate reporting on key sustainability issues.
The Alliance’s comments express support for the initiative citing growing investor demand for sustainability reporting. Fran Seegull, Executive Director of the Alliance, wrote that:
The events of 2020 have highlighted in stark detail the critical importance of developing consistent and comparable sustainability reporting standards. Investors faced with the task of making investment decisions are loudly and urgently calling for increased transparency and accountability on issues ranging from climate change to workforce sustainability to diversity, equity and inclusion. The IFRS Foundation has the opportunity to meaningfully meet this moment. We applaud the steps taken to-date, and we encourage the IFRS Foundation Trustees to adopt the proposed role in advancing harmonized and streamlined sustainability reporting standards.
Trustees of the IFRS foundation will now consider the proposal as well as the more than 350 comment letters submitted to-date.