The European Green Deal and the need to build back greener after the global pandemic have only emphasized the need for consistent, comparable and decision-useful corporate non-financial information.

2021 will be a turning point on these issues, with the review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive in Europe and the development of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards. Several jurisdictions are mandating  the TCFD Recommendations, and the IFRS Foundation has recently announced the establishment of the Sustainability Standards Board (SSB), based on the climate-related financial disclosure standard prototype developed by the Group of 5 (CDP, CDSB, GRI, IIRC and SASB).

Despite significant progress, making sense of multiple initiatives remains a challenge. The need for further standardisation is widely supported, however there are diverging views on how to achieve it.

This event gathers key stakeholders, such as the European Commission, IFRS Foundation, and EFRAG, to discuss the way forward in the development of a global approach to non-financial reporting standards and how to ensure that it works both on European and global levels.

Agenda and Speakers:

Introduction

• Mardi McBrien, Managing Director, CDSB

Part 1 - The direction of travel : principles and scope of sustainability reporting standards

• Alexandra Jour-Schroeder, Deputy Director General, DG FISMA, European Commission
• Michel Madelain, Trustee, IFRS Foundation

Part 2 - The process: standardising sustainability reporting

• Patrick de Cambourg, Chair, EFRAG Project Task Force on Preparatory Work for the Elaboration of the possible EU Non-Financial Reporting Standards
• Georg Lanfermann, President, Accounting Standards Committee of Germany, Berlin

Part 3 - Best policy options and challenges around sustainability reporting standards 

• Sirpa Pietikäinen, Member of the European Parliament
• Dr. Christian Ossig, Chief Executive, Member of the Board of Directors of the Bundesverbandes deutscher Banken (Association of German Banks)

The event is moderated by Michael Zimonyi, Policy and External Affairs Director, CDSB