More than 40 people appointed to prep EU’s ESG reporting standards

Accountancy veteran Patrick de Cambourg will chair the group in charge of drafting a set of common standards for the Non-financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), currently under revision as part of Europe’s Green Deal. 

In July, the European Commission mandated  the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) to undertake  preparatory work on non-financial reporting standards. It also tipped EFRAG’s Board President, Jean-Paul Gauzès, to consider possible changes within the organisation’s governance and funding.

The NFRD revision is expected to unify the fragmented landscape of standard-setting in the sustainability reporting arena, often referred to as an ‘alphabet soup’ of initiatives – all voluntary. See RI coverage here.

EFRAG has set up a group (a Project Task Force, part of its European Lab Steering Group) chaired by De Cambourg, President of French standard-setter, the Autorité des Normes Comptables and Honorary Chairman of the global French accountancy firm Mazars. 

De Cambourg is also the author of an oft-cited study describing Europe as the potential "land of choice for extra-financial information”, at a time when the US Securities and Exchange Commission was pushing back on the inclusion of climate change in the modernisation of disclosures rules.

Representatives from MSCI ESG Research, Groupama Asset Management, the London Stock Exchange Group, the US Institute of Management Accountants and among those named to EFRAG’s new taskforce. Members of the European Commission’s Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, and the forthcoming Platform on Sustainable Finance will also be included. 

The European Commission insisted there were no firm decisions on NFRD revisions yet.