Biodiversity poised to be part of international sustainability reporting standards for businesses after ‘milestone’ vote

The ISSB will vote on April 23 to add biodiversity-related standard-setting to its two-year work plan

Those standards could become the basis for mandatory nature-related financial disclosures in jurisdictions including Hong Kong

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The ISSB will vote this week to add biodiversity-related disclosures to its work plan, paving the way for such standards to become the global baseline. Photo: dpa

Published: 10:01am, 22 Apr 2024

Biodiversity is set to become a key part of mandatory nature-related financial disclosures around the world after a vote on Tuesday by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

The ISSB, a body set up during the COP26 global climate summit in 2021 to consolidate various reporting standards, will vote on April 23 on the research and standard-setting projects it aims to add to its two-year work plan, including the sustainability-related risks and opportunities associated with biodiversity.

There is “significant and growing interest” among investors for better biodiversity-related disclosures, said the ISSB, which concluded its consultation last September.

This week’s vote is poised to be “an important milestone” that will move biodiversity into the global sustainability reporting baseline, said Emily McKenzie, technical director of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).

Attendees of the COP27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in 2022. Photo: Reuters

The standards could become the basis for authorities around the world to regulate such disclosures, according to McKenzie, who was in Hong Kong last week to attend the launch of TNFD Recommendations Hong Kong, organised jointly with Swire Properties, the city’s only representative in the 40-member task force.

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