Faith Ward, chief responsible investment officer at Brunel Pension Partnership, says there are key corporate sustainability reporting consultations coming up that need investor input
We can shape the sustainability disclosure landscape so that it works for companies and investors alike – harmonising disclosure asks, thereby reducing reporting burden, increasing effectiveness and, at the end of the day, making corporate disclosures decision-useful for all.
As a member of the Investor Advisory Group of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), I would like to highlight a number of critically important opportunities for investors to help shape the disclosures we use for investment decision-making.
Many of you may well be thinking ‘haven’t we already done that (more than once)?’. Yes and no – there is lots of “consulting” relating to reporting and ISSB, so I thought it would be useful to provide a summary, links and a heads-up on consultations yet to come.
Firstly, the consultations related to the legal framework for corporate sustainability reporting in the UK. Open until 17 September, these cover:
- UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS), which are based on the standards published by the ISSB;
- Assurance process for the UK SRS and similarly based international standards, e.g. the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), focusing on the proposal for a registration regime operated by the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority;
- Transition plan requirements and views on the role of transition plans alongside the UK SRS.
“We have more than 120 days to get into the detail, but the sooner the better”
Faith Ward, chief responsible investment officer at Brunel Pension Partnership
Secondly, the ISSB is consulting on amendments to a subset of the SASB Standards and related industry-specific guidelines that help provide insights into the management of financially material sustainability risks, including:
- a comprehensive review of the extractives & minerals processing sector and the processed foods industry;
- aligning some metrics in a further 41 industries for topics such as water management and workforce health & safety; and
- updates to Industry-based Guidance on Implementing IFRS S2 to keep everything aligned.
We have more than 120 days to get into the detail here with the deadline of 30 November 2025, but the sooner the better.
Developing the proposals above, the ISSB team has consulted many corporates, investors and other stakeholders, but it’s critical that an even wider group engage with these standards if we are to get it right.
Corporates and sector specialists – please review and provide your invaluable insights on what are useful KPIs and what are not.
If that wasn’t enough fun to keep you busy over summer (whose idea was that?!), the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group, the body that is advising the European Commission on how it should revise the ESRS, is due to launch its consultation on amended ESRS proposals at the end of this month, running until the end of September.
There will also be a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) consultation relating to proposals to require the use of UK SRS within FCA listing rules.
It is essential that, as investors, we communicate to all our policy makers and standard setters that we need decision-useful information on: how companies are managing sustainability issues today; how they plan to address climate risks occurring now and in the future; and, to be internationally interoperable.
It has never been more important to get this right.
Faith Ward is the chief responsible investment officer at Brunel Pension Partnership
This is an edited version of comments originally posted on social media
