While business performance has historically been measured in financial terms, this is changing. Societal awareness of environmental and social issues is increasing. As a result stakeholders are demanding a wider range of information with a clear global trend towards mandatory sustainability reporting.

The last 24 months have seen rapid evolution of the sustainability reporting landscape, most notably the release by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) of its first two standards in June 2023. Together with the consolidation of existing key sustainability reporting frameworks into the IFRS Foundation, including the SASB Standards, GRI Standards, Integrated Reporting Framework and Climate Disclosure Standards Board, this marks significant progress towards harmonising sustainability reporting.

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Keep up to date with sustainability and climate reporting and related developments

The release of the ISSB’s standards is not the only development. Locally climate-related disclosures are now mandatory in New Zealand, and are soon to be introduced in Australia. Other sustainability reporting and sustainability-related developments are evolving at pace. Whilst this creates opportunities for accountants it also brings challenges including developing new competencies, keeping abreast of changing legislation, regulations and standards, and upholding integrity and objectivity in this evolving area.

CA ANZ is committed to publishing useful information to help you keep up to date and implement these changes.