The members of the EACB gladly take the opportunity to comment on the IFRS Foundation’s exposure draft that amends the constitution to accommodate a new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to set IFRS sustainability standards.
The EACB considers extremely important the initiative undertaken by the IFRS Foundation to create an international standard setter for sustainability reporting, as this will allow to develop a uniform framework for reporting high quality, relevant and coherent sustainability-related information. Furthermore, the EACB thinks it is important to align with the decisions at the global level, as the work of the IFRS Foundation to establish the ISSB was already endorsed by the recent agreements at G7 and G20 meetings.
The EACB welcomes the proposed amendments to the IFRS Foundation’s Constitution. In particular, the EACB appreciates the fact that the Foundation’s objectives, the governance structure and function of a new sustainability standards board closely reflect those of the financial accounting standard-setter, IASB.
We are convinced that the information reported in accordance with the new IFRS sustainability standards should be primarily intended for the use of investors, as these addressees are the general focus of corporate reporting. At the same time, we recognize the importance of connecting the new proposed sustainability standards with broader “multi-stakeholder sustainability reporting”. Furthermore, we believe it is crucial to achieve the system of uniform internationally recognised sustainability standards, which can be further complemented by different jurisdictional sustainability-related reporting requirements.