Chair of the IOSCO Task Force on Sustainable Finance reconfirms that IOSCO stands ready to support global sustainability reporting standards

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Oct 28, 2020

On October 28, 2020, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) released an open response to the open letter sent by the CDP, Climate Disclosure Standards Board, Global Reporting Initiative, International Integrated Reporting Council and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board to Erik Thedéen, Chair of the Sustainable Finance Task Force of the IOSCO, on the need to work together to meet the needs of the capital markets as regards global sustainability reporting standards. Mr. Thedéen already acknowledged the letter and responded to it in a speech in September, however, he has now published an open response.

In his response, Mr. Thedéen repeats the April 2020 IOSCO statement that IOSCO is looking to play an important role in the area of sustainability reporting. Commenting once more on the IFRS Foundation sustainability reporting consultation and the statement of intent of CDP, CDSB, GRI, IIRC, and SASB, he notes again that while these initiatives are currently running in parallel, IOSCO is keen to see them come together.

On IOSCO's role and the path forward, Mr. Thedéen reconfirms that IOSCO stands ready to offer support and help. He writes:

As noted, we agree that there is an urgent need to improve the completeness, consistency and comparability of sustainability reporting. Together your joint initiative and that of the IFRS Foundation [...] can set the foundations of a global system architecture that will deliver a more coherent and comprehensive corporate reporting system. [...] We believe that IOSCO is in a unique position to help in this process - just as we did 20 years ago when we endorsed IFRS for use in cross-border offerings and listings and set the foundations of the current three-tier governance structure that the IFRS Foundation enjoys today. We look forward to continuing and deepening our collaboration with your organisations and the IFRS Foundation.

Review the full letter on the IOSCO's website.

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