Action taken by the Trade and Development Board 2016
Enhancing the role of reporting in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals: Integration of environmental, social and governance information into company reporting
Agreed Conclusions
6 Oct 2016
Related meeting:
Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting, thirty-third session
- Delegates at the thirty-third session of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting reviewed recent developments in sustainability reporting, including environmental, social and governance issues, and discussed major challenges in this area, such as the lack of international comparability and reliability of sustainability reporting, and the importance of consistency with financial reporting frameworks. They agreed that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its monitoring framework can play an enabling role in fostering an integrated approach to corporate reporting, in improving and harmonizing sustainability reporting and enhancing its usefulness for decision-making, and in assessing the private sector contribution towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Group of Experts expressed appreciation for the breadth and depth of the deliberations on this agenda item and the quality of the issues note, prepared by UNCTAD jointly with the United Nations Environment Programme, to facilitate discussions on this matter. It called on UNCTAD to advance its work, in collaboration with the Consultative Group, on the selection of a limited number of core Sustainable Development Goals reporting indicators to facilitate the harmonization of sustainability reporting, in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals monitoring framework and its indicators, with a view to developing a guiding document to assist members States in their efforts to enhance the role of corporate reporting in the Sustainable Development Goals monitoring mechanism. The Group requested UNCTAD to continue facilitating dialogue between major players and initiatives in the area of sustainability and reporting on the Goals, as well as relevant policymakers, accounting standard-setters, preparers and users of financial and sustainability reporting, statistical bodies, development agencies and other stakeholders to improve the usefulness of sustainability reporting for the stakeholders, and to enhance its role in the Sustainable Development Goals monitoring system.
Related
Agreed Conclusions , Closing plenary
Agreed Conclusions , Closing plenary
Agreed Conclusions , Closing plenary meeting
Agreed Conclusions 579 (EX-LXXIV), Closing plenary meeting
