IFRS expands sustainability board to six members

June 10, 2022

Follows the appointment of former Danone CEO and chairman Emmanuel Faber

The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation has appointed four members to its International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to support international investors on climate and ESG matters.

Catch up on previous coverage of the ISSB:

ISSB seeks feedback on global sustainability disclosure plan

Asset owner feedback sought as ISSB builds approach

IFRS begins search for sustainability standards board

Joining the ISSB board are Richard Barker, Verity Chegar, Bing Leng, and Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien, bringing the ISSB’s total members to six. This follows the appointment of former Danone CEO and chairman Emmanuel Faber as chair, and Sue Lloyd from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) as vice-chair. Plans are in place to bring the total membership to eight.

The ISSB’s aim is to deliver a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability-related disclosure standards that provide investors and other capital market participants with information about companies’ sustainability-related risks and opportunities to help them make informed decisions.

Barker currently leads the University of Oxford Saïd Business School’s sustainable business initiatives and is also chair of the expert panel of Accounting for Sustainability. Previous positions include membership in the Corporate Reporting Council and the Financial Reporting Advisory Board. He served as a research fellow at the (IASB).

Chegar joins from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) in which she leads the pension fund’s policy engagement on sustainable investment and stewardship issues and manages the fund’s work to achieve net-zero emissions. She served as co-vice chair of the SASB Standards Board since 2017.

Leng joins the ISSB with a wealth of experience operating as a director in the Accounting Regulatory Department of the Chinese Ministry of Finance, where he oversees sustainability reporting initiatives. Leng is also a member of the International Accounting Standards Board’s IFRS Taxonomy Consultative Group. He is a member of the board of directors at XBRL International.

The final member joining the ISSB, Nnoli-Edozian, served as group chief sustainability and governance officer of Dangoe Industries. In this role, she was responsible for the development of the company’s sustainability culture, strategy, and reporting across 14 countries.

Emmanuel Faber, chair of the ISSB, said: “I am delighted to welcome Richard, Verity, Bing and Ndidi to the ISSB. They all have a passion for sustainability and reporting and will help get the ISSB off to a great start as we prepare to discuss the feedback received to our current consultation.”