The International Financial Reporting Foundation Standards Foundation (IFRS) has launched the International Sustainability Standards Board.

It also said it is planning to consolidate the Value Reporting Foundation (the merger of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board with the International Integrated Reporting Council) and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board by June 2022.

The move to merge together the VRF, SASB, the IIRC and the CDSB within one sustainability standards board comes after demands from financial regulators and investors for more alignment between standards and frameworks for ESG reporting, to avoid greenwashing by companies. The launch is timed to coincide with COP26.

PwC UK Head of Audit, Hemione Hudson, says to the launch of the International Sustainability Standards Board:

“The launch today of the International Sustainability Standards Board is an important step towards achieving a global common approach to ESG related disclosure standards. Harnessing the power of the financial markets to play a leading role in the transition to a net zero economy will require a dramatic improvement in the quality and comparability of companies’ emissions data. Reporting standards are a critical component to achieving this and we look forward to supporting the board in it’s important work. Problems range from an overreliance on models and assumptions, to poor quality emissions data along companies’ supply chains. As PwC highlights in a new report this week, failure to improve climate reporting will erode public trust in business and global confidence in the world’s effort to halve emissions by 2030.”