This support will help the IFRS Foundation to fully establish the ISSB within the Canadian sustainability ecosystem. In exchange, the IFRS Foundation has committed to scheduling initial ISSB meetings to be held in Montreal in October and December 2022 and hosting the inaugural ISSB Symposium in Montreal, with the dates to be confirmed.

Review the press release on the IFRS Foundation's website.

The Names Rule currently requires registered investment companies whose names suggest a focus in a particular type of investment (among other areas) to adopt a policy to invest at least 80 percent of the value of their assets in those investments (an “80 percent investment policy”). The proposed amendments would enhance the rule’s protections by requiring more funds to adopt an 80 percent investment policy. Specifically, the proposed amendments would extend the requirement to any fund name with terms suggesting that the fund focuses in investments that have (or whose issuers have) particular characteristics. This would include fund names with terms such as “growth” or “value” or terms indicating that the fund’s investment decisions incorporate one or more environmental, social, or governance factors. The amendments also would limit temporary departures from the 80 percent investment requirement and clarify the rule’s treatment of derivative investments.

The proposing release will be published in the Federal Register. The comment period will remain open for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Review the press release and proposed rule on the SEC's website.

In his speech, Mr. Alder noted that by endorsing the standards, IOSCO would send a strong signal to its large membership of market regulators that they should examine how they might adopt the standards in their own jurisdictions.

While the critical step in evaluating the ISSB standards and finally endorsing them would be to consider the degree to which and how they can be adopted in practice, there were also more detailed points to be considered by IOSCO as well:

• the ISSB standards should be compatible and connected with existing accounting and financial reporting standards — serving as a “bridge”;
• they should act as a common base for jurisdiction-level requirements, making them interoperable with one another using a building blocks approach;
• they should provide the degree of consistency necessary to enable markets to reliably price sustainability-related risks and opportunities and support capital allocation; and
• they should form the basis for the development of a credible assurance framework.

Mr. Alder stressed that he firmly believed the ISSB was the most credible mechanism for achieving the above and creating a baseline for climate disclosure standards.

Mr. Alder also commented on the relationship between sustainability disclosures and traditional financial statements and noted this had become increasingly important. He suggested that the ISSB should work closely with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to consider how preparers could be encouraged to develop the factors relevant to calculating enterprise value from a quantitative perspective, and to consider how that calculation might connect to traditional financial statements. The overall aspiration was to bridge the divide between conventional financial disclosures and ISSB sustainability disclosures centered on the concept of enterprise value, so that in combination they paint the full picture.

Please click for the full summary on the SFC website.

Below is an analysis of all changes made to the work plan since our last analysis on May 30, 2022.

Standard-setting projects

• Climate-related disclosures — Feedback on the exposure draft will now be discussed in Q4 2022 (previously H2 2022)
• Disclosure initiative — Subsidiaries without public accountability: Disclosures — The IASB decided to publish a final accounting standard as next project step (no date given)
• Disclosure initiative — Targeted standards-level review of disclosures — Following the discussion received on the exposure draft, the IASB will decide on the project direction in Q3 2022
• Dynamic risk management — After deciding on the future direction of the project, the IASB will publish an exposure draft as next project step (no date given)
• General sustainability-related disclosures — Feedback on the exposure draft will now be discussed in Q4 2022 (previously H2 2022)

Maintenance projects

• Contractual cash flow characteristics of financial assets — This project has been moved from the standard-setting agenda to the maintenance agenda
• Lack of exchangeability — The entry of when a decision on the project direction is to be expected has been removed
• Non-current liabilities with covenants — After discussing the feedback received, the IASB decided to publish a final amendment as next project step in Q4 2022
• Supplier finance arrangements — Feedback on the exposure draft will now be discussed in July 2022 (previously June 2022)

Research projects

• Goodwill and impairment — A decision on the project direction is now expected in Q4 2022 (previously H2 2022)
• Post-implementation review of IFRS 10-12 — The project has been concluded by publishing a feedback statement and has therefore been removed from the work plan

Other projects

• IFRS Sustainability disclosure taxonomy — Feedback on the staff request for feedback will be now be discussed in Q4 2022 (previously H2 2022)
• IFRS Taxonomy update — 2022 General improvements and common practice — This project has been renamed from 2021 to 2022

The revised IASB work plan is available on the Board's website.