Corporate disclosure of sustainability risks: reconciling international and EU approaches

The last few years have seen several initiatives aimed at developing reporting standards on sustainability related information. Although sustainability information is broader, disclosure standards on climate risks and opportunities have been the special focus of investors, regulators and standard setters.

In November 2021, the International Sustainability Standard Board has been established under the umbrella of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) Foundation.

The ISSB is now finalising requirements on disclosure on  climate-related risks and opportunities and a general sustainability disclosure standard and it is expected to issue those two IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards around the end of Q2 2023.

In parallel, the European Commission has been working on standards for companies operating and trading in the EU. In April 2021, it adopted the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and it is expected to finalize the associated reporting standards around the same time as the ISSB.

The IFRS Foundation is a global organization issuing standards to provide the information necessary to inform investment decisions while the EC sees legislation on disclosure requirements on climate as part of a broad set of public policies under the umbrella of the Green Deal.

The panel, chaired by IFRS trustee and Bruegel fellow Lucrezia Reichlin, is a conversation between Emmanuel Faber, Chair of the International Sustainability Standards Board, John Berrigan, Director General, DG ECFIN and Massimo Romano, responsible for integrating reporting at Generali.

The conversation focused on the interoperability of the EU requirements and the ISSB’s global standards, the design of an architecture in which companies will be able to navigate the ISSB’s standards and the European requirements using a common baseline of disclosures. This conversation was also an opportunity to explain to a broader audience the direction of the technical work which had been done in collaboration between the ISSB and EFRAG and progress on working towards interoperable disclosures to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of reporting.