Yesterday the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation announced that it is establishing the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The purpose of the ISSB is “to develop global standards to improve the consistency, comparability and reliability of sustainability reporting.” The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (Basel Committee) declared its endorsement for the ISSB; stated support for “the development of a consistent approach across sectors and minimising regulatory fragmentation”; and promised to “work on the Pillar 3 framework to promote a common disclosure baseline for climate-related financial risks across internationally active banks”.

The Basel Committee believes the ISSB’s mission coincides with its Pillar 3 goals related to climate-related financial risks and plans to analyze Pillar 3 to bolster these risks for a common disclosure baseline traversing all internationally active banks. In coordination with the IFRS Foundation, the Basel Committee intends on advance their analogous objectives by working with other international forums such as the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), “to ensure the prerequisites for a high-quality and globally consistent disclosure framework for climate-related financial risks are in place”.

More information on the Basel Committee’s collaboration with the ISSB can be found here.