The only topic to be discussed is whether the due process applied to the development of educational material should apply to the development of material to support the interoperability of the ISSB’s standards. The agenda and the paper for the meeting are available on the IFRS Foundation's website.

A summary of the agenda is set out below:

Agenda papers for the meeting are available on the IFRS Foundation website.

The full agenda for the meeting is summarised below.

The agenda items for discussion are as follows:

• Final Comment Letter: Post-implementation Review of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments Impairment
• IASB General Update 

The meeting agenda and papers and details of how to register are available on the UKEB website.  

The recording of the Public UKEB meeting held on 21 September 2023 is availabe on the UKEB website.

Mr Liikanen introduced the session and explained once more how the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) was established as a sister board to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) due to global demand and how the structure of the IFRS Foundation works.

Mr Barckow then explained that the work of the IASB extends to more than standards setting and that 40% of its time is spent on stakeholder engagement. On technical aspects, he mentioned the primary financial statements project, which will most probably lead to the issuance of IFRS 18, the project on subsidiaries without public accountability (very likely to result in IFRS 19), and the project on climate-related risks in financial statements.

Mr Faber expanded on the recent ISSB milestones (issuance of the first two ISSB standards, taking over responsibilities from the TCFD, endorsement of the ISSB standards by IOSCO) and noted that ISSB and EFRAG had noted the high dgree of alignment between the ISSB standards and ESRSs.

Questions from the few Parliamentarians in attendance covered the following topics:

• Differences between ISSB standards and ESRSs, challenges and costs for EU companies and wouldn't it have been better if the EU adopted ISSB standards instead of developing their own ones. Mr Faber explained about the complex landscape the two sets of standards had been developed in, noted that a high degree of alignment had been achieved and that the list of topics where the two sets differ was very clear. He stressed the shared ambition of the two standard setters and that a comparison tool will help to navigate the differences.
• Cooperation with EFRAG. Mr Liikanen noted that cooperation on climate hat gone well, especially since climate was a global concern that affected stakeholders around the world. The main goal was avaoiding double reporting.
• Are ESG matter reflected in IASB standards. Mr Barckow explained that IASB standards are risk-agnostic, so all risks have to be considered in reporting, be they climate-related or not.
• Is there a risk of overregulation. Mr Liikanen explained that to his mind, one aspect of overregulation was double reporting, and the ISSB was working with its fellow standard setters to avoid that. Mr Faber added that currently there was rather a risk of underregulation in sustainability reporting. On financial reporting, Mr Barckow added that while an effort to reduce regulation was always laudable, a fine balance needed to be struck between different needs of stakeholders and jurisdictions.

A recording of the session is available on the website of the European Parliament. The exchange of views begins at 15:13 hrs. Please note that the audio options include translations into twelve languages. The presentation slides used by the speakers are also available on the website of the Parliament.

Discussions during the event will address key themes including the role of the finance in climate change. The finance programme focuses on financial opportunities to identify and mitigate climate risks as part of a green recovery. There will also be sessions relevant to sustainability reporting, including:

• discussions addressing how companies are mobilizing their tech, talent and processes to prepare for compliance with evolving regulatory expectations from around the globe; and
• discussion of the new ISSB Standards, how they connect to the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) guidance, and best practices in climate risk management.

A highlight of the finance programme will be the launch of the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework, a framework for organisations to report and act on evolving nature-related risks.

Further details, and an extensive programme listing for Climate Week NYC, can be found here.

According to the statement, ESRS and GRI definitions, concepts and disclosures regarding impacts are fully or, when full alignment was not possible, closely aligned. The statement notes that existing GRI reporters will be well prepared to report under the ESRS and entities reporting under ESRS are considered as reporting with reference to the GRI Standards.

Please click to access the joint statement on the EFRAG website.

The report summarises findings from EFRAG’s outreach and engagement with stakeholders on the IASB project and draws upon and integrates findings from EFRAG outreach that was carried out from June to July 2023, feedback obtained from the responses to a survey that was sent to EFRAG stakeholders  and from input received during meetings with some of EFRAG’s technical expert and advisory working groups, constituents’ views expressed during the 2021 EFRAG agenda consultation, and a review of concerns flagged in publications related to European companies’ reporting of climate-related risks in the financial statements.

Please click to access the briefing paper on the EFRAG website.

The update reports on the EFRAG Financial Reporting Board (EFRAG FRB) and the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board (EFRAG SRB) joint webcast meeting on 28 August 2023 and the EFRAG Financial Reporting Technical Expert Group (EFRAG FR TEG) and the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Technical Expert Group (EFRAG SR TEG) joint webcast meeting on 21 August 2023. 

The update also lists EFRAG publications issued in August including: 

• EFRAG's final comment letter on the ISSB ED Request for information – Consultation on Agenda Priorities
• EFRAG's final comment letter on the ISSB ED Methodology for Enhancing the International Applicability of the SASB Standard and SAS Standards Taxonomy Updates

The update also covers EFRAG's sustainability reporting and related activities.

Please click to download the August 2023 EFRAG Update from the EFRAG website.

ISSB's Request for Information (RFI) on its agenda priorities

In its final comment letter EFRAG suggests that the ISSB puts the emphasis on:

• a clear direction of travel with a definition of the universe of sustainability-related information to be ultimately covered and of the corresponding underlying concepts;
• the priority to be given to interoperability in structure and content with other sustainability reporting standards; and
• connectivity to be included as a priority topic in the standard setting workplan, together with the topical standards.

EFRAG considers that the first priority of the ISSB should be beginning new research and standard-setting projects (including connectivity) and supporting the implementation of ISSB Standards IFRS S1 and IFRS S2.

EFRAG explicitly recommends the ISSB to integrate the investors’ interest in impact materiality. 

EFRAG considers that a project on connectivity (not integration in reporting) should be given a high priority to develop guidance on connected information.  Further should the ISSB begin a project on integration in reporting, EFRAG considers it should be pursued as a formal joint project of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and ISSB.

ISSB's Exposure Draft 'Methodology for Enhancing the International Applicability of the SASB Standards and SASB Standards Taxonomy Updates

In its final comment letter, EFRAG generally agrees that the proposed methodology would improve the international applicability of the SASB standards but suggests the following improvements: 

• keeping an acceptable comparability level when working with national references; and
• the ratification status of international references.

EFRAG considers the proposed methodology a reasonable transition approach, pending a more extensive standard setting activity to enhance the SASB standards.

EFRAG suggests the ISSB should develop a gap analysis between the SASB standards and sustainability reporting frameworks developed more recently or being developed. The ISSB should also avoid relying on metrics behind a payment wall.

EFRAG agrees to update the SASB XBRL Taxonomy to reflect the amended SASB standards accordingly, as suggested. EFRAG invites the ISSB to work with EFRAG on a harmonisation of the sector specific digital XBRL taxonomies of the European Sustainabiity Reporting Standards (ESRS) and ISSB standards.

The press release with links to the final comment letters are available on the EFRAG website.