Why we’re watching: By 2025, one-third of all financial assets in the world will be invested with environmental, social, and governance criteria. Yet there are no common ESG standards, creating an environment susceptible to “green washing” or repackaging existing assets. ISSB has the potential to provide some clarity in the form of a global set of sustainability-related disclosure standards.

Leadership: Emmanuel Faber, chair.
HQ: Frankfurt, Germany.
Tidbit: “Engagement with developing and emerging economies will be an important priority,” ISSB says.
Follow: Adva Saldinger and Devex Invested.

Analysis: ESG is a hot financial trend, but is it doing any good for the world? Criteria vary, and there’s little accountability, which is why financial regulators around the world are moving toward requiring companies to disclose climate-related metrics in particular. ISSB — a new board from the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation that was announced at COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland — aims to address that. An ambitious undertaking, ISSB has the muscle to succeed, drawing on work from the World Economic Forum and developing standards that will comply with those being formed in Europe, the U.K., and the U.S., among others. The inaugural chair, Faber, was famously ousted from his role as CEO at Danone for what shareholders thought were insufficient financial returns, even as he championed multistakeholder capitalism and ESG. — RK.

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