Mr Servais welcomed the efforts of the standard setters that are likely to result in both sustainability-related disclosure standards and related assurance standards to be ready for use by corporates for their end-2024 accounts and noted that this was in response to significant investor demand for high quality and reliable sustainability disclosures.

He stressed that a global language for sustainability disclosures is needed in order to promote greater consistency and comparability of disclosures and highlighted that IOSCO, therefore, welcomes the ISSB's commitment to publishing its global standards for climate disclosures and general requirements in Q2.

Once they have been released, IOSCO responsibility to consider potential endorsement of the ISSB standards. A potential endorsement should be a game changer and give impetus for the adoption or use of the first global and inclusive framework for sustainability-related disclosures by corporates. Mr Servais stated:

Three factors will be key to achieving global uptake. First, maximising interoperability between the global framework and jurisdictional frameworks will be an important factor. Second, IOSCO will be receptive to the mechanisms designed to allow for a sufficient degree of proportionality to ensure all jurisdictions can get on board. Third, we see merit in building in limited flexibility for some disclosure requirements, in order to alleviate legitimate concerns relating to data availability and the preparedness of companies to comply in a timely manner. This takes into account the reality that, while the direction of travel is the same, we may not all travel at the same speed.

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