What’s the issue?
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is moving at pace to realise its ambition to create a global baseline for investor-focused sustainability reporting that local jurisdictions can build on.
It needs to decide what to focus on next after finalising its climate and general requirements standards1 in June 2023. It has been seeking feedback from stakeholders via a consultation.
The key decision is how the ISSB splits its time between:
- embedding the first standards on climate and general requirements; and
- focusing on new areas – e.g. biodiversity, human capital, human rights and integration in reporting.
The ISSB will determine which priorities to focus on over the next two years based on feedback received.
To realise its aim of a global baseline, we believe the ISSB needs to balance creating additional standards, which are needed, with embedding its first standards. As it completes this critical work, it needs to maximise interoperability with other existing and emerging frameworks.
What's in the KPMG response?
Irrespective of the consultation outcome, the ISSB’s immediate priorities after finalising its first standards are encouraging jurisdictions to adopt them and supporting companies to apply them.
With this in mind, the KPMG response reflects the need to:
- prioritise creating new standards alongside embedding the first ISSBTM Standards to realise the goal of a global baseline;
- take an efficient and pragmatic approach to all projects; and
- ensure maximum interoperability with other standards being developed (e.g. European Sustainability Reporting Standards).
1 IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures.
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