On 27 June 2023, the day after the release of the first two ISSB Standards, the ISSB published an introductory article titled "Ten Things to Know About the First Two ISSB Standards" on its website to further help a wide range of stakeholders understand the ISSB Standards, which aim to provide a uniform and comparable global benchmark for sustainability disclosures for capital markets. The details are as follows:
1. Global disclosure standards
The ISSB provides reporting companies and investors with a harmonized and comparable global basis in the capital markets for sustainability disclosure. The ISSB allows different jurisdictions to establish any additional jurisdiction-specific disclosure requirements on top of the ISSB Code.
2. International support.
The ISSB's work is supported by investors, reporting firms, policymakers, market regulators and other stakeholders from around the world, including leaders of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the G20 and G7.
3. Disclose important information that is helpful for decision-making.
The ISSB is geared towards capital markets and means that reporting companies are required to disclose information that is important to investors and is appropriate for decision-making. In addition, the ISSB has developed a "climate first" transitional measure, which allows reporting companies to prioritize climate disclosures and complete sustainability disclosures in phases.
4. Integrate existing sustainability information guidelines and frameworks.
S1 and S2 build on the TCFD framework, the SASB Standard, the CDSB Standard, the Integrated Reporting Framework (IR) and the World Economic Forum's (WEF) sustainability disclosure indicators, which can help reporting companies benefit from the sustainability disclosure efforts they have established in the past, while reducing the headache of having to deal with a multiplicity of sustainability disclosure standards or frameworks at the same time.
5. Reduce duplicate reports.
The ISSB provides capital markets with globally comparable standards for sustainability disclosures, while the ISSB also allows jurisdictions to further develop additional disclosure requirements as needed to meet the needs of public policy or wider stakeholders. This approach helps to reduce duplication of reporting by reporting companies that are subject to multi-jurisdictional or multi-jurisdictional regulatory markets.
6. Help reporting companies communicate at low cost on a global scale
The ISSB Code is designed to provide investors with reliable information to help reporting companies communicate how they identify and manage sustainability-related risks and opportunities in the short, medium and long term.
7. Associated with financial statements
The ISSB standard requires reporting companies to publish a sustainability report at the same time as their financial report to provide comprehensive information about the company. ISSB standards can be used in conjunction with any accounting standard, but the key underlying concepts used in the development of ISSB standards are referenced in IFRS. At this stage, IFRS is required to be used in more than 140 jurisdictions.
8. After full public consultation
The development of the ISSB standard follows the same inclusive, transparent due process as IFRS development. The first two exposure drafts of the ISSB Guidelines received more than 1,400 public feedback from around the world, and all ISSB working documents, stakeholder feedback documents and technical decision-making processes are available on the guidelines.
9. Interoperability with broader sustainability reporting.
The ISSB's partnership with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) enables the ISSB to be interoperable with the GRI standard, helping companies reduce the burden of using both the ISSB and the GRI standard for disclosure.
10. Capacity-building and partnerships
The ISSB's responsibilities are not limited to norm-setting. At COP27, the ISSB announced a capacity building partnership programme that aims to provide the necessary resources to achieve high-quality, consistent sustainability disclosures between developed and emerging economies.