Madrid, 28 March 2023 – IOSCO/MR/06/2023
IOSCO encourages timely and high-quality profession-agnostic standard-setting outcomes responsive to the public interest; calls for early engagement with preparers, investors and providers; and supports capacity building across the entire sustainability reporting ecosystem.
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has today published a Report on International Work to Develop a Global Assurance Framework for Sustainability-related Corporate Reporting.
Commenting on the Report, Jean-Paul Servais, IOSCO Board Chairman, said:
“The global community is looking for timely actions to put in place standards for independent assurance of sustainability-related disclosures. Momentum has been building for decisive actions. We are pleased that the IAASB[1] and the IESBA[2] intend to have their framework ready for end-2024 disclosures and encourage them to deliver on this timeline.”
Rodrigo Buenaventura, Chair of the Sustainable Finance Task Force, said:
“We welcome the progress by both the IAASB and the IESBA towards a global assurance framework over sustainability-related corporate reporting. The finalization of these standards will be an important milestone. But the standards can only deliver on their promise if they are applicable for all assurance providers, irrespective of their profession, and subject to established robust due processes ensuring the development of high-quality standards. We call on issuers, assurance providers and others across the sustainability reporting ecosystem to engage as early as possible with the standards setters’ initiatives to ensure there is a robust process and that they are ready to apply the final standards soon after they are available, including on a voluntary basis.”
The report elaborates on IOSCO’s support for the on-going work of the international standard setters – the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants – to develop profession-agnostic assurance and ethics (including independence) standards over sustainability-related information.
Through its factfinding work and engagement with stakeholders internationally, IOSCO has observed growing demand among investors for high-quality assurance over sustainability-related information. The global regulatory landscape for assurance over sustainability-related information today relies mainly on voluntary use of assurance. And practices vary widely. Investors emphasized the importance of globally consistent and comparable assurance and ethics (including independence) standards.
Both standard setters aim to issue exposure drafts in the second half of 2023, approving the standards on a timeframe that should allow for issuers and assurance providers to familiarize themselves with the content ahead of the end-2024 reporting period.
Among its key messages to stakeholders across the ecosystem, IOSCO encourages continued strong system-wide engagement throughout the development of the standards. IOSCO also identifies matters for consideration by all stakeholders such as, enhancing the connectivity between sustainability-related information and the financial statements and ensuring that the global assurance framework promotes a high degree of transparency.
A clear message in IOSCO’s factfinding work was that capabilities need to be enhanced across the entire ecosystem to support effective assurance over sustainability-related information. IOSCO therefore also encourages issuers and assurance providers to build and maintain appropriate knowledge of sustainability-related reporting, and related skills, capabilities, processes and controls to support reporting and assurance. IOSCO encourages the standard setters to support these efforts, also taking account of the needs of emerging markets and other stakeholders that may be less familiar with assurance over sustainability-related information.
IOSCO will continue to play a key role in promoting global consistency in the assurance of sustainability-related information, encouraging early engagement by all stakeholders in the development of a high-quality assurance framework and supporting capacity building across the ecosystem.
- IAASB is the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.
- IESBA is the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants
