The International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) reporting framework is now in use or being implemented in jurisdictions accounting for more than 60% of global GDP, the board’s vice chair Sue Lloyd said during a media briefing last week.

“When we’ve talked about the 36 jurisdictions that we’ve referred to in the past, we’ve noted the significant market capitalisation behind that – more than 60% of global GDP,” she said.

“So it’s very good coverage in a very, you know, quick period of time from the ISSB in terms of what we’re achieving there, which is really good progress.”

Lloyd was speaking ahead of the publication of 17 jurisdictional profiles and 16 additional snapshots, which together map how jurisdictions are either adopting or aligning with the ISSB’s sustainability disclosure standards.

To date, just 14 jurisdictions have taken binding decisions to adopt both IFRS S1 and S2, although Lloyd stressed that comparisons with the IFRS accounting standards regime were premature.

“Clearly, the [International Accounting Standards Board] IASB has been around for much longer, so they’ve had a lot longer time to build to the 144 [using their standards],” she said.

The ISSB was established in November 2021 at COP26 in Glasgow, with a mandate to develop a global baseline of sustainability disclosure standards.

It published its first two standards – IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 – in June 2023.

The ISSB has previously claimed 36 jurisdictions are on the path toward adoption. Of those, 33 are covered in the current update while the remaining three – Qatar, Panama and the European Union – are not included in this release.

Lloyd said she remained confident that the ISSB’s framework was well-positioned for wider adoption and that the board was “very pleased with the state of progress”.

Omitted from the profiled jurisdictions is, however, the EU. Lloyd said the board was awaiting the outcome of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) omnibus process before formally assessing the EU’s position.

She did note, however, that the European Commission had publicly committed to interoperability but “wanted that to be done in a way which would further enhance interoperability with global standards”.

In the US, meanwhile, the ISSB is leaning on voluntary adoption, investor pull, and a patchwork of state-level initiatives.

“We are seeing continued strong investor interest in sustainability information, including from the use of the ISSB standards,” Lloyd said.

She noted that there was evidence of “very strong investor interest in sustainability information, including from the use of the ISSB standards” in the US, alongside interest in voluntary use of the standards.

She added that the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s (SASB) standards, which the ISSB has retained as application guidance for IFRS S1 and S2, remain widely used in the US market.

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