IFRS begins search for sustainability standards board

January 14, 2022

The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation has begun its formal search for board members to sit on its new sustainability standards body.

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) was formed last year at the COP26 conference, and in December it appointed former Dannone CEO Emmanuel Faber as its inaugural board chair.

Now, the ISSB wants to appoint up to 11 board members alongside Faber. Each will serve for an initial five years, with the possibility of extending the term for another three.

Each role is part time, although the ISSB said in a statement that it may also look to hire for some part-time positions on the board as well. In total, the board will consist of 14 “professionally and geographically diverse” members.

Board members will need to be based in one of the organisation’s offices and the positions will come with international travel expectations.

“The ISSB will build on the work of existing investor-focused reporting initiatives to become the global standard-setter for sustainability disclosures for the financial markets,” the IFRS Foundation stated.

The foundation has already reached agreements with the Climate Disclosure Standards Board and the Value Reporting Foundation to consolidate, building on its aim to streamline and standardise a currently disparate and sometimes contradictory sustainable accounting landscape.

The two consolidating organisations will bring much of the supporting framework for the ISSB’s work, which will also incorporate the output of the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures and the World Economic Forum Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics.

“The ISSB will sit alongside and work in close cooperation with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to ensure connectivity and compatibility between the two boards’ standards,” the foundation stated.

“Similarly to the IASB, the ISSB’s work will be overseen by the IFRS Foundation Trustees, who are in turn accountable to a Monitoring Board of capital market authorities.”