Latin American Partnership holds training on ISSA 5000 and revised IESs
The second meeting of the Latin American Partnership for the promotion of sustainability and SDG reporting took place on 13th June 2025. The meeting was chaired by Flavia Fernandez from CCEA Uruguay and Isabel Garza Rodriguez from UNCTAD.
Mr. Hernan Casinelli, board member of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and chair of the Group of Latin American Standard Setters (GLASS), presented the new International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000 General Requirements of Sustainability Assurance Engagements. He stressed the framework and profession agnostic nature of the new standard and explained that it is applicable to all assurance engagements on sustainability information. He also clarified that once the ISSA 5000 becomes effective, the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3410, Assurance Engagements on Greenhouse Gas Statements will be withdrawn.
Mr. Manuel Arias, Principal of Member Engagement at IFAC, made a brief introduction about recently issued standards by the different standard setting boards of IFAC including the assurance, ethics and education standards. Then Maria Elena Escobar, member of the International Education Panel of IFAC, presented the changes to the International Education Standards (IESs) 2,3.4 and 6. She highlighted that the main modifications included embedding a sustainability approach, new assurance competence, enabling behavioural competencies and additional explanatory material to facilitate implementation. She also spoke of two new additional principles, i.e., integrity and authenticity, an update to the principle of equity and enhanced guidance on hybrid and remote assessments.
After this, Ms. Elsa Beatriz Garcia Bojorges, President of the Financial and Sustainability Standards Board in Mexico (CINIF) spoke of the recent regulatory developments in her country around sustainability reporting. She provided information about the adoption of IFRS S1 and S2 for listed companies and the publication of a Conceptual Framework for sustainability reporting and core sustainability indicators based on UNCTAD’s GCI for non-listed companies, including SMEs. All standards became effective in January 2025. She also highlighted that CINIF is developing a series of practical cases showing how to calculate the core indicators and is creating a website containing geolocation of protected biodiversity and water stress areas and a calculator for scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions.
Then, Jessica Magaña and Patricia Moles from CINIF (Mexico) presented the Exposure Draft Amendments to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosures. They spoke of the relief included in the document which limits the Scope 3 Category 15 GHG emissions required to be measured and disclosed to financed emissions namely GHG emissions attributed to loans and investments made by an entity to an investee or counterparty. After this presentation, partnership members shared their views on the consultation document to prepare a regional response. The meeting was attended by 39 (22 women) participants from 11 countries.
