Multistakeholder Statement in Reaction to the ISSB's 2-year Work Plan

The International Sustainability Standards Board is presenting in London this Tuesday the work plan for the upcoming two years, including research projects to develop standards for companies’ reporting on biodiversity and human capital.

In reaction to this, we publish a statement signed by a group of civil society, investor and corporate associations namely B Lab Global, Eurosif, ECOS, Frank Bold, World Benchmarking Alliance, ShareAction, Mouvement Impact France and Shift and features public positions submitted by UNEP FI, WBCSD, PRI or the OECD.

The statement reflects positions and recommendations submitted to the ISSB by some of the largest investor and corporate associations, global institutions and leading NGOs in the fields of environment and human rights, including:

• A call for a strategic approach to address risks and dependencies across the entire spectrum of deeply interconnected environmental, social and governance topics, which is of high importance for investors and financial institutions to adequately consider and incorporate long-term systemic risks

• A request to make ISSB standards interoperable and connected with impact-related disclosures (namely GRI and the already adopted EU Sustainability Reporting Standards), as well as compatible rather than competing with existing international standards and frameworks globally endorsed such as the UNGPs or the OECD Guidelines. 

• The urgency to address impact drivers of biodiversity loss, notably to end and reverse deforestation by 2030, building from an integrated approach that considers water and marine resources, pollution as well as circular economy. 

• A strong concern over the separation of human capital and human rights risks instead of planning for a coherent architecture of social-related disclosures. 

• The need to underpin any development of social standards with the process of due diligence for providers of capital to understand the extent to which companies are equipped to identify and manage their risks and opportunities effectively. 

Read the full statement here.