WRITING THE RULES — Regular readers know that accounting and reporting standards are going to be critical to building a more sustainable economy. We need a set of rules for measuring and reporting progress, be it in workplace diversity, greenhouse gas emissions or something else. The fledgling International Sustainability Standards Board will be writing those rules. The board, a consolidation of fragmented standard-setting bodies, aims to have a comprehensive global baseline of disclosure rules by the end of 2022. It laid out its game plan on Wednesday. Ultimately, a baseline reporting standard should cut costs for companies and make it easier for investors and the public to understand what’s actually going on. G7 finance ministers and central banks endorsed the ISSB’s work on Friday, firmly cementing its bona fides as the standard-setter. Still confused about ESG disclosures? You’re not alone. POLITICO convened a panel on the subject this week. Here’s what you might have missed. On carbon tunnel vision: “It’s not just about the carbon counting, it’s about the broader business and the business ecosystem. How are you as a responsible business or entity making sense of what kind of impact your business has on the environment? When I say environment, not just physical environment around you, but also your stakeholders, the people that you work for. You think about supply chains and the transparency required within a supply chain of a company. How are you making sure that there’s no child labor or forced labor as part of that? It’s not just about carbon and it’s not even just about the environment. It’s really about being a responsible and sustainable business for the future generations.” — Christina Shim, head of strategy at IBM Sustainability Software. On standardizing standards : “We need regulators who are pragmatic in their approach and understand that the corporate community is not their enemy. They’re not, in our view, resisting this. The market is demanding this. What they want are workable solutions that don’t unnecessarily expose them to litigation risk and exorbitant new costs…. We are used to the corporate community saying ’no regulation, deregulate.’ That’s not the response here.” — Ed Knight, executive vice chair, Nasdaq. On the SEC’s proposed climate disclosure rule: “This is a first, and I think Chair [Gary] Gensler is very committed to providing investors with what they need and to trying to get better information from companies that investors and other stakeholders can use. So I think for the next couple years we’re going to see more of this.” — Lisa Woll, president of investor group US SIF. On human capital : “There is general buy-in that diversity is important. It’s important for social reasons and impact. It’s also important to workforce retention and recruitment. I think that most employers recognize that having a diverse and inclusive work environment is important to the health of your workplace and your ability to attract and retain high-quality staff. So the disclosure around that is increasing. We’ve seen, in the data that we have, that more and more companies are disclosing that.” — Elizabeth King, president of ESG for the Intercontinental Exchange. For more, check out our video from the summit at POLITICO Live.
| 
