IOSCO will roll out extensive capacity-building programme on sustainability reporting
14 Sep, 2023
The International Organization for Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has released the transcript of a key note address given by Jean-Paul Servais, Chair of the IOSCO Board, at the Eurofi 2023 Financial Forum in Santiago de Compostela.
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.
He continued to explain that few days later, the European Commission adopted the final set of its own disclosure requirements, which integrate the ISSB standards, in line with IOSCO’s endorsement decision. Mr Servais stressed that with IOSCO’s endorsement backing the ISSB standards, he was confident that many other jurisdictions would follow suit and that IOSCO anticipated that up to 130,000 companies worldwide could eventually disclose sustainability-related information as informed by the ISSB Standards. He highlighted:
First: The benefits of producing these data points for investors outweigh by far the costs associated with it.
Second: This isn’t a matter of doing everything, everywhere and all at once. It is a matter of starting the journey together, and with the same destination in sight.
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.
Please click to read the full text of the speech on the IOSCO website.
