This quarter's webinar featured a discussion about new developments in the ESG standard-setter space with guest speakers from the IFRS-ISSB and GRI. As usual, we had two call options to accommodate the many time zones of our partners, either at 09:00 or 16:00 Geneva Time (Central European Time).
Exchanges play a key role in promoting transparency in their markets and help issuers disclose the relevant information investors demand to make informed decisions as to where to channel their funds. ESG reporting has developed rapidly over the past two decades and five key standards and frameworks emerged that exchanges and their markets used to meet the increased demand for high-quality ESG related corporate data.
When the SSE started to promote ESG reports with the publication of its Model Guidance on ESG reporting in 2015, less than a quarter of all exchanges in the world were providing guidance to their market. Now it’s over 50%. However, advocates for ESG reporting were often met with the notion that the plurality of standards and frameworks caused confusion and additional barriers to ESG reporting.
Recent developments in the ESG space aim at tackling this by consolidating and aligning existing standards and frameworks: In 2020, key standard setters and framework operators issued a statement of intent to work closely together. In 2021, under the IFRS, a new International Sustainability Standard Board (ISSB) was formed. Since then, the ISSB merged with existing frameworks and signed an MoU with GRI. More importantly, it also released a new global baseline for sustainability disclosure for consultation.
During this quarterly webinar, we will hear from Mardi McBrien and Michael Zamonyi from the IFRS-ISSB and Peter Paul van de Wijs from GRI about how the new standard incorporates previously used standards and how the ISSB and GRI plan to work together and how the new baseline is complementary to the GRI standard. The webinar will offer the possibility for members to ask questions and find out what the new developments mean for themselves and for their markets.
- Summary and Presentation
Opening remarks and an overview of the Q2 Call agenda were provided by the SSE.
The SSE team welcomed a new partner exchange that joined in Q2 2022: The Papua New Guinea National Stock Exchange. There are now 114 SSE Partner Exchanges plus 13 members of the SSE Derivatives Network.
As a second action point, the SSE team announced the publication of a new Chinese translation of the report on “How derivatives exchanges can promote sustainable development” exactly one year after the publication of the English language version. Mr Owain Johnson, Global Head of Research and Product Development at CME addressed the participants on the call to highlight the developments since the publication such as the formation of the new SSE derivatives exchange network. CME was the Chair of the UN SSE Advisory Group for derivatives markets and wrote the foreword to the report. Lead peer reviewer for the Chinese translation, Dr Guo Peiyuan, Chair of SynTao Green Finance and member of the China SIF, also addressed the participants and noted that the work on the translation let him realise how deep the derivatives market can be and what a powerful instrument in furthering sustainable finance. The Chinese version of the report can be found here:
How Derivatives Exchanges can Promote Sustainable Development - An Action Menu (Chinese version)
The main agenda item of the call was to update participants on recent ESG disclosure standards developments. The SSE team provided a brief overview of developments in the past two years and then handed over to Mardi McBrien, Managing Director, IFRS Foundation to share a detailed overview of the new ESG disclosure landscape, how former ESG standards fit into the new framework established by the ISSB and the content of the ISSB’s new exposure drafts that are under consultation until the 29th of July 2022:
- Exposure Draft IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information;
- Exposure Draft IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures
Peter Paul Van De Wijs, Chief External Affairs Officer at GRI talked about GRI’s most recent work and the announced collaboration with the ISSB. He also highlighted the importance of the development of a new European Standard for Sustainability Disclosure as a template for global legislation.
Slides
- List of Participants
We had the participation of a variety of sectors from 38 markets, totaling 90 participants.
