Organisations entrusted by regulators with the establishment of reporting and accounting standards for the corporate world’s net-zero and other sustainability targets have started to address one of the big concerns in this area – the plethora of standards and reporting guidelines.

The IFRS Foundation and the Global Reporting Initiative announced last week that they will work together to co-ordinate their standard-setting programs.

The IFRS Foundation launched the International Sustainability Standards Board last year, with the goal of developing global standards for sustainability disclosures for the capital markets.

The ISSB is building on work already done by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures. Now it will also work with the GRI’s Global Sustainability Standards Board.

The IFRS Foundation said in a statement: “The agreement reflects the importance of ensuring compatibility and interconnectedness of investor-focused baseline sustainability information that meets the needs of the capital markets, with information intended to serve the needs of a broader range of stakeholders.

“The IFRS Foundation and GRI recognise the considerable public interest in aligning where possible their respective work programs, terminology and guidance, helping to reduce the reporting burden for companies and to further harmonise the sustainability reporting landscape at an international level.”

The International Organisation of Securities Commissions and ASIC have given their support to the ISSB project. Last year IOSCO reported that an examination of corporate sustainability disclosure practices globally and found that investor demand for transparent, comparable sustainability related information was often not being met.

The Net-Zero Banking Alliance, which includes a small number of large Australian banks in its membership, is closely aligned with the TCFD and the ISSB.