New body established to coordinate sustainability reporting initiatives

A new body has been set up to coordinate the multitude of sustainability reporting bodies, under the umbrella of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).

The new Corporate Reporting Dialogue will be chaired by Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International and a member of the IIRC.

The new body has buy-in from eight other groups, including the CDP, the Global Reporting Initiative and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.

Crucially, perhaps, it has the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) as members (full list below).

The move is a response to a widespread impression that there are too many corporate reporting standards and frameworks. The CRD aims to promote “greater coherence, consistency and comparability” between the different frameworks and standards.

The first goal will be to develop a ‘corporate reporting landscape’ highlighting the “connectivity” of the various reporting frameworks and standards – “and their relevance to Integrated Reporting”.

“By working together towards a common goal, participants aim to respond to market calls for better alignment and reduced burden in corporate reporting,” the groups said.The body was launched at the International Corporate Governance Network’s annual conference in Amsterdam today (June 17).

“Under the umbrella of the IIRC, we are comfortable that the CRD will progress while keeping institutional investors in mind as the main user group of corporate reporting,” said Incoming ICGN Chairman Erik Breen, the former Head of Responsible Investing at Robeco who is now with Triodos.

The move would “help create greater clarity for companies and investors alike and stimulate genuine integrated reporting” said Claudia Kruse, the Managing Director of Governance and Sustainability at Dutch pension giant APG who chairs the ICGN’s Integrated Business Reporting Committee.

Corporate Reporting Dialogue participants:

• CDP 

• Climate Disclosure Standards Board
• Financial Accounting Standards Board
• Global Reporting Initiative
• International Accounting Standards Board
• International Integrated Reporting Council
• International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board
• International Organization for Standardization
• Sustainability Accounting Standards Board