A Major Step Forward for Integrity and Public Trust in Sustainability Information
The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) welcomes the Public Interest Oversight Board’s (PIOB) important decision to certify its Global Ethics Sustainability Standards and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Statement of Support calling on its members to apply or be informed by the new framework.
The Global Ethics Sustainability Standards include the International Ethics Standards for Sustainability Assurance (including International Independence Standards) (IESSA) and the revisions to the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (the Code) related to sustainability reporting and to the use of the work of an external expert.
Reacting to the PIOB’s Certification and IOSCO’s Statement of Support, Gabriela Figueiredo Dias, Chair of IESBA said:
“The certification of IESBA’s new ethics standards framework for Sustainability and Experts, along with IOSCO's call for its members to adopt or be informed by the framework, marks a significant step to cement ethics as the foundation of trust and accountability in sustainability reporting and assurance. The global sustainability standards infrastructure is now complete, with the ethics piece providing foundational instruments to underpin transparent, relevant and trustworthy sustainability information. Looking forward to the joint launch with IAASB of the new ethics and assurance standards. Join us on 27 January.”
These landmark new standards provide a robust ethical framework for reporting and assuring sustainability-related information that promotes high quality, reliable information for decision-making by investors, lenders, customers, suppliers, government, regulators and other stakeholders.
The IESSA and related revisions to the Code, including regarding using the work of an external expert, address critical risks to the integrity, quality and effectiveness of sustainability reporting and assurance such as bias, conflicts of interest, pressure to act unethically, fraud including greenwashing, non-compliance with laws and regulations, and threats to the independence of the assurance practitioners.
The final standards can be found on the IESBA’s website https://www.ethicsboard.org/standards-pronouncements.
The official launch of the new standards will take place on January 27, 2025, jointly with the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s (IAASB) International Standard on Sustainability Assurance 5000 (ISSA 5000). After robust and close coordination, the IESBA and IAASB developed comprehensive, interoperable global standards for assurance, ethics, and independence for sustainability assurance engagements.