Canadian Consultation: Agenda Priorities for Expanding the ISSB Standards

ISSB Consultation on Agenda Priorities issued

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has published its Consultation on Agenda Priorities (Consultation) to seek feedback on priorities for a two-year work plan, starting in 2024. 

Feedback from this consultation will inform the ISSB's priorities, allocation of its time and resources, and more importantly, shape future sustainability-related financial disclosure standards.

The ISSB is seeking feedback on three key areas: 

• the strategic direction and balance of the ISSB’s activities;    
• the suitability of criteria for assessing which sustainability-related matters (including topics, industries and activities) to prioritize and add to the ISSB’s work plan; and    
• a proposed list of new research and standard-setting projects that could be added to the ISSB’s work plan. 

Criteria for evaluating new research and standard-setting projects 

The ISSB evaluates a potential new research or standard-setting project for its work plan based on whether the project will meet investors' information needs for making decisions about allocating resources to an entity, in line with the objective of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).  

The ISSB have proposed the following criteria for deciding whether a potential project will meet investors’ needs:  

• The significance of the issue to investors  
• The presence of any shortcomings in companies' disclosure of information on the issue  
• The types of companies impacted by the issue, including its prevalence across industries and jurisdictions  
• The pervasiveness or severity of the issue for companies  
• The interrelation of the potential project with other projects in the work plan  
• The complexity and feasibility of the potential project and its possible solutions  
• The ability of the ISSB and its stakeholders to advance the project in a timely manner  

Proposed research projects on sustainability-related risks and opportunities, and reporting integration

To ensure that entities provide investors with information on a broader range of sustainability topics – contributing to a more comprehensive and informative global baseline of sustainability-related financial disclosures, the ISSB has identified four projects:

• Three research projects on sustainability-related risks and opportunities associated with:
  
  • biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services;
  • human capital; and
  • human rights.
• One research project on integration in reporting to explore how to integrate information in financial reporting beyond the requirements related to connected information in IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures.

Your input is needed 

FRAS Canada is seeking Canadian feedback on this Consultation – to ensure Canadian perspectives are heard and considered by the ISSB before the final work plan is issued. 

Participate in our activities to ensure your voice is heard and help inform our response letter to the ISSB. Here’s how: