- From manufacturing to investment, all market sectors are witnessing a paradigm shift in reporting as governments move from financial stability to financial sustainability.
- Much is still unknown, with fast-moving developments to set sustainability-related reporting standards across the globe underway.
- Regulators recognise that sustainability-related disclosures are a high-stake game, and sustainability reporting will likely become mandatory soon.
The last eighteen months have been full of events that have made a tremendous impact on our daily lives and how we perceive financial stability: from the financial comfort of a single household to… the comfort of the entire financial sector.
Amidst the pandemic, it became starkly visible that COVID-19 was not the only pressing problem, and the images of masks washing up ashore signalled yet another issue: that the time for climate action is now. Governments worldwide are recognising that we cannot wait for the pandemic to end before realising the risks of climate change, and they need to be dealt with in parallel.
While many aspects of sustainability reporting remain obscure, progress has already been made. A few examples include the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), set to launch at COP26 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) in November, or the EU Taxonomy and work on corporate sustainability reporting standards.
Other initiatives are also underway, with BR-AG chosen to explore sustainability reporting in the Global Financial Innovation Network and the G20 2021 TechSprint.
And with that said, how should companies prepare for the inevitable: mandatory sustainability reporting?