December 18, 2023
7
min read
Top 10 International Sustainability Standards in 2023
Discover the top 10 international sustainability standards in 2023 and their key features.
Sustainability is an important topic in today's global economy. Companies around the world are taking steps to ensure that their operations are in line with international sustainability standards.This includes reducing their carbon footprint, using renewable energy sources, and working with suppliers to make sure their materials are ethically sourced. These standards are making a huge impact on the environment and helping to create a sustainable future for all.Sustainability reporting has seen a drastic increase in the last decade, with 90% of the 500 largest companies by market capitalization publishing reports in 2019, up from 86% in 2018.This type of non-financial reporting is used by governments, companies, investors, and NGOs to share their performance and impacts on topics such as environmental footprint, GHG emissions, material and resource use, and supply chain sustainability.They provide a way of measuring and communicating how a company is performing in terms of its sustainability goals. By setting standards, companies are able to make sure that their operations are conducted responsibly and in a way that is beneficial to the environment, society, and the economy.
What are International Sustainability Standards?
International sustainability standards provide companies with the frameworks, guidelines, and, tools they need to increase their productivity and efficiency while also promoting a positive environmental and social impact.Sustainability standards can be categorized as voluntary consensus standards and private standards. An example of a standards organization that uses a voluntary consensus process for sustainability is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).Additionally, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has created several standards and guidelines to promote sustainability in agriculture, fisheries, and forestry. The FAO has also produced certification standards for organizations to follow.Despite bearing some similarities in regard to their major goals and certification procedures, there are notable disparities in terms of their historical development, target adopters, geographical dispersion, and focus on environmental, social, and economic issues.
Top 10 Sustainability Reporting Standards in 2023
• (EU CSRD) ESRS: EU Sustainability Reporting Standards
• (UNFSS)United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards
• (IIRC) International Integrated Reporting Council
• (TCFD): Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
• ISSB (IFRS): International Sustainability Standard Board
• (CDP)
• (B Corp)
• (GRI): Global Reporting Initiative
• (SASB): Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
• (ISO 14001) ISO Guidance on Social Responsibility
Find a detailed overview of each standard below.
EU CSRD (ESRS): EU Sustainability Reporting Standards
Type: Sustainability
Themes: Sustainability and Environmental Reporting
Number of participants: 50,000+
Required for: EU companies with 500+ employees and/or that are publicly traded
Stakeholder audience: Regulators and other EU stakeholdersT
he EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is an update to the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) which takes effect in 2023 and broadens mandatory EU sustainability reporting standards for most companies. The goal of CSRD is to make corporate sustainability reporting more common, standards-based, and closer to financial accounting and reporting.
UNFSS: United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards
Type: Sustainability
Themes: ESG & Sustainability Reporting
Best for All industries
Stakeholder Audience: National and International bodies
The United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) is an initiative with a steering committee of six United Nations Agencies – Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Trade Centre (ITC), UN Environment, the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is the secretariat of UNFSS. UNFSS headquarters are in Geneva. It focuses on economic sectors like forestry, farming, mining, or fishing, environmental factors like protecting water sources and biodiversity or reducing greenhouse gas emissions
IIRC: International Integrated Reporting Council
Type: Integrated Sustainability
Themes: Finance, ESG, Sustainability
Number of Participants:Best for Investors
Stakeholder Audience: Regulatory bodies, Accountancy Firms
The purpose of the Framework is to establish guiding principles and content elements that govern the overall content of an integrated report and to explain the fundamental concepts that underpin them.
TCFD: Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
Type: Sustainability
Themes: ESG & Climate Financial Risk
Number of participants: ~2,600+ supporting organizations
Best for Large Companies
Stakeholder audience: Investors
The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) guides companies on disclosing climate-related financial risks to investors, lenders, insurers, and other stakeholders. TCFD is primarily a theme or pillar-based recommendations framework, one that is increasingly being used throughout the finance and banking sectors, and championed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), and the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
ISSB (IFRS) International Sustainability Standard Board
Type: Sustainability
Themes: General Sustainability Accounting, Risks & Opportunities
Number of participants: TBD
Best for Medium-to-Large Companies
Stakeholder audience: Investors, CFOs, and Finance
The IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards were created in 2022 by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to serve as a global format for sustainability and climate reporting that meets the needs of CFOs and investors. While newer, and still in development, given the IFRS's influential role in financial reporting, these standards should help connect sustainability reporting information with a company's financial statements and accounting.
CDP
Type: Sustainability
Themes: Climate, Supply Chain, Forest, Water
Number of participants: 9,600
Best for Medium-to-Large Companies
Stakeholder audience: Investors, Supply Chain
CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) manages a global environmental disclosure system used by more than 9,600 companies. Companies disclose by completing any or all of the three CDP questionnaires of climate change, forests, and water security. CDP also includes an optional 4th supply chain reporting module. CDP publishes the scores of reporting companies on its website.
B Corp
Type: Sustainability
Themes: Social Impact, Sustainability, & ESG
Number of participants: >4,000
Best for Small-to-Medium Companies
Stakeholder audience: All
B Corp is a private certification and set of standards for corporate social and environmental performance. The B Corp framework is most widely adopted by smaller, privately-held companies.
GRI
Type: Sustainability
Themes: General
Number of participants: ~10,000
Best for Any Type of Organization
Stakeholder audience: All
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) created the first global, third-party sustainability and social impact measurement standards in 1997. The newest GRI Standards provide three sets (economic, environmental, and social) of 34 topic-specific standards to help companies report on material ESG issues to their investors and other stakeholders. GRI has no central oversight function – but companies can choose to make their reports available via a database on the GRI website.
SASB (Value Reporting Foundation)
Type: Sustainability
Themes: ESG Financial Risk
Number of participants: ~800
Best for Large Companies
Stakeholder audience: Investors
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) develops and provides non-financial, sector-specific sustainability reporting standards that track and communicate ESG performance areas and metrics that are most financially material to investors. SASB standards vary by industry and are available for dozens of different sectors. In 2021 SASB merged with the IIRC (International Integrated Reporting Council) to create the Value Reporting Foundation with the goal of providing an integrated reporting framework to connect sustainability reporting with financial disclosure. More recently, the ISSB has now taken over SASB and is in the process of integrating SASB into the new ISSB (IFRS) sustainability reporting standards
ISO 14001: ISO Guidance on Social Responsibility
Type: Sustainability
Themes: ESG & Environmental Management Systems
Number of Participants: 450,000+
Best for Small and Large Companies
Stakeholder Audience: Investors, Regulators,
ISO 14000 is a family of standards that are related to environmental management. These standards exist to help organizations reduce the negative impact of their operations on the environment, comply with applicable laws and regulations, and continually improve their environmental performance. The family includes standard 14001 and a list of further guidelines.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the growing importance of sustainability reporting has led to the creation of many international sustainability standards. These standards provide a framework for companies to measure and communicate their performance and impacts on topics such as environmental footprint, GHG emissions, materials and resource use, and supply chain sustainability.The top 10 international sustainability standards in 2023 include EU CSRD (ESRS), UNFSS, IIRC, TCFD, ISSB (IFRS), CDP, B Corp, GRI, and SASB (Value Reporting Foundation), and ISO 14001.These standards help to ensure that companies are conducting their operations responsibly and in a way that is beneficial to the environment, society, and the economy.
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