Specifically, Ms Ko discussed work done by the European Commission, CFA Institute, five ESG standard-setters, the World Economic Forum, and the IFRS Foundation Trustees towards establishing a common set of non-financial reporting standards. Ms Ko also discussed the new Sustainability Standards Board and the important role it will play in the development of sustainability standards and how the IFRS Foundation can aid in establishing effective synergies with existing financial reporting. She especially noted:

The Trustees of the Foundation are aware of the enormity of the task of developing a global set of sustainability standards. The Trustees are very clear that building on and working with regional initiatives is a ‘must’ in order to achieve global consistency and reduce complexity and hopefully cost too. [...] The new Sustainability Standards Board must develop a structure and culture that seeks to build effective synergies with existing financial reporting. This should give the IFRS Foundation an added advantage in playing a key role in the field of sustainability reporting. It would not be right to emphasise one form of reporting at the expense of another. [...] Approached in this way, everybody would benefit from the useful and globally comparable information and data that would result.

The full article is available on the IASB’s website.