SEC to streamline sustainability reporting standards

MANILA  -The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is coming up with new guidelines to streamline sustainability measures reported by publicly listed companies.

The corporate regulator said in a statement it aimed to soon release the revised guidelines, which would also consider global sustainability standards such as IFRS S1 (general requirements for disclosure of sustainability-related financial information) and IFRS S2 (climate-related disclosures).

These standards serve as an effective and proportionate global framework of investor-focused disclosures on sustainability and climate-related risks and opportunities. The International Organization of Securities Commissions also endorsed the said standards earlier this year, the statement showed.

“This is a significant step towards consistent, comparable and reliable sustainability information, ending the so-called alphabet soup of voluntary adoption of various standards,” said SEC chair Emilio B. Aquino.

Following the issuance of its sustainability reporting guidelines in 2019, the corporate watchdog recorded a steady increase in the submission of reports.

“The adoption of the IFRS S1 and S2 standards will complement the commission’s adoption of frameworks under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development-International Standards of Accounting and Reporting Guidance on Core Indicators,” Aquino said.