IOSCO endorses the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards

Unsurprisingly yet nevertheless very encouragingly, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has officially endorsed the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards IFRS S1 (on general sustainability-related disclosures) and IFRS S2 (on climate-related disclosures). 

IOSCO is now calling on its 130 members, which regulate more than 95% of the world's financial markets, to consider ways in which to adopt and implement these standards in their own jurisdictions. The IFRS Foundation simultaneously released its Jurisdictional journey to implementing IFRS S1 and IFRS S2—Adoption Guide overview, which is an outline to a future Adoption Guide to support jurisdictions in their adoptions of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2.

These are important developments in the process of making the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards mandatory, which are necessary to making sustainability-related information widely available, comparable, and reliable. It's always important to keep in mind that standards by themselves are not mandatory, however they are necessary to having comparable and externally assured disclosures. This is exactly what we’re seeing emerge in the European Union with the CSRD/ESRS.