An early recommendation that was already issued by the committee and approved by the oversight councils was the establishment of the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB), which will soon be operational.

In addition to the establishment of the CSSB, implementing recommendations regarding effective oversight of standard setting is now underway – beginning with a joint effectiveness review of the current oversight councils that aims to streamline and harmonize current oversight activities and processes.

Review the press release and report on the AcSb's website.

Mr Servais welcomed the efforts of the standard setters that are likely to result in both sustainability-related disclosure standards and related assurance standards to be ready for use by corporates for their end-2024 accounts and noted that this was in response to significant investor demand for high quality and reliable sustainability disclosures.

He stressed that a global language for sustainability disclosures is needed in order to promote greater consistency and comparability of disclosures and highlighted that IOSCO, therefore, welcomes the ISSB's commitment to publishing its global standards for climate disclosures and general requirements in Q2.

Once they have been released, IOSCO responsibility to consider potential endorsement of the ISSB standards. A potential endorsement should be a game changer and give impetus for the adoption or use of the first global and inclusive framework for sustainability-related disclosures by corporates.

Refer to the speech on the IOSCO website.

IOSCO has engaged extensively with the ISSB over the last two years during the development of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, culminating in a comprehensive and independent review of the final standards. After a detailed analysis, IOSCO has determined that the ISSB standards are appropriate to serve as a global framework for capital markets to develop the use of sustainability-related financial information in both capital raising and trading and for the purpose of helping globally integrated financial markets accurately assess relevant sustainability risks and opportunities.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) applaud the efforts of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and today’s International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) endorsement decision of the ISSB’s recently issued IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards S1 and S2. IOSCO determined that these standards are “appropriate to serve as a global framework for capital markets to develop the use of sustainability-related financial information in both capital raising and trading and for the purpose of helping globally integrated financial markets accurately assess relevant sustainability risks and opportunities.”

Review the press release and high level roadmap on the IOSCO and IFRS website respectively.

Refer to the joint statement from the IAASB and IESBA Chairs on IOSCO’s endorsement of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards.

Mr. Servais began his speech by noting that in June 2023, the ISSB published its inaugural set of sustainability-related disclosure standards and that in July 2023 IOSCO announced its decision to endorse the ISSB standards as fit for purpose for financial markets. Mr. Servais stressed:

“IOSCO’s endorsement decision calls on 130 member jurisdictions, which regulate more than 95% of the world's financial markets, to consider ways in which they might adopt, apply or otherwise be informed by the ISSB Standards.”

Finally, Mr. Servais noted that IOSCO will roll out an extensive capacity-building programme and will also put its weight behind the development, by 2024, of high-quality standards for assurance of sustainability-related information to enhance their trustworthiness.

Review the speech on the IOSCO website.

ISO 14000 Environmental management and greenhouse gas emission standards aid companies in fulfilling sustainability and climate commitments, facilitating alignment with IFRS S2 disclosures. Firms with these management system standards are well-positioned to engage with investors using ISSB Standards.

As ISO Standards support consistent approaches internationally in the internal management of sustainability-related matters, ISO supports the work of the ISSB to establish a truly global baseline of sustainability-related financial disclosures.

Furthermore, ISO and the IFRS Foundation are committed to advancing capacity building initiatives that focus on supporting organisations to build internal expertise and understanding that advance practices and reporting.

Access the press release on the IFRS website.

Earlier this year, the ISSB Standards were endorsed by the global body for international securities regulators—IOSCO—and since then companies, jurisdictions, and other market players from around the world have been paving the way towards adopting or using the ISSB Standards.

Corporate membership groups representing thousands of companies globally have signed the statement, joined by more than 140 companies preparing public disclosures who also chose to demonstrate support directly. Companies have been calling for standards that enable them to communicate to investors comprehensive information about their climate resilience strategy.

The ISSB’s key partners in the sustainability disclosure landscape including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), CDP and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) also reaffirmed their support for the work of the ISSB. The ISSB continues to work closely with these partners to reduce market fragmentation in the sustainability disclosure landscape. 

Review the press release on the IFRS website.

The Exposure Draft Methodology for Enhancing the International Applicability of the SASB Standards and SASB Standards Taxonomy Updates is open for comment until August 9, 2023 while the Request for Information Consultation on Agenda Priorities is open for comment until September 1, 2023.

Re­view the news release on the IFRS website.

Access the podcast on the IFRS website.

The topics discussed include:

• recent progress towards jurisdictional adoption of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2,
• updates on recent progress some of their partners have made,
• an update on capacity building and translations,
• recent meetings with key stakeholders,
• an update from their October board week; and
• preliminary common themes from feedback to their agenda consultation.

The update and the podcast can be accessed on the IFRS Foundation website.

Highlights of the podcast include discussions on:

• Ratification of consequential amendments to the SASB Standards;
• Consultation on the ISSB’s agenda priorities and international applicability of the SASB Standards;
• Stakeholder engagements;
• Upcoming publication of S1 and S2 in June 2023.

Access the podcast on the IFRS website.