Merger progresses company ESG reporting

In a move that will help solidify a global system of ESG reporting standards, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and the International Integrated Reporting Council will merge to create the Value Reporting Foundation.

The merger helps progress the vision of a single, coherent system of corporate disclosure, an essential ingredient for investors and corporates serious about ESG reporting.

Chair of SASB, Robert K Steel, said the merger was an important step in enabling investors to communicate with clarity and ease about the issues that matter most to financial performance. Importantly it helps to eliminate the fragmented reporting landscape that currently exists in ESG.

The merged entity – which will be headed by the current CEO of SASB, Janine Guillot – will maintain the Integrated Reporting Framework, advocate integrated thinking, and set sustainability disclosure standards for enterprise value creation. The organisations said that the merger directly responds to calls from global investors and corporates to simplify the corporate reporting landscape, providing the market with a clear solution for communicating about the drivers of enterprise value.

The Value Reporting Foundation could eventually integrate other entities focused on enterprise value creation, and the Foundation and Climate Disclosure Standards Board have jointly signalled interest in entering into exploratory discussions in the coming months.

“Sustainability disclosure is at the top of the agenda for many, creating incredible momentum towards simplifying the corporate reporting landscape.  By merging two organizations focused on enterprise value creation, we hope to clarify the field. We stand ready to engage with the efforts of the IFRS Foundation, IOSCO, EFRAG, and others working towards global alignment on a corporate reporting system,” says  Guillot.

The merger will advance the work of CDP, CDSB, GRI, IIRC and SASB in the Statement of Intent To Work Together Towards Comprehensive Corporate Reporting, which outlines a vision for a comprehensive corporate reporting system.

Listen to Janine Guillot in conversation with Amanda White

In this Fiduciary Investors Series podcast Amanda White talks to chief executive of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, Janine Guillot, about stakeholder capitalism and the role investors can play in shifting the dial. We discuss the value SASB can play as a tool for decision making and how stakeholder issues can impact performance. SASB standards identify the issues most likely to impact financial performance in 77 industries.

Guillot says the key lever to help re-establish trust between business and society is that companies measure, manage, and reward environmental and social issues the same way they measure, manage, disclosure and reward on financial issues.