The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has introduced a new network to support the global adoption and usage of the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) standards. IOSCO endorsed the ISSB standards in July 2023, a month after their launch, and has called on its members to consider ways in which they might adopt, apply or otherwise be informed by the standards in their jurisdictions. The network will start with a group of 32 members of IOSCO’s Growth and Emerging Markets Committee, representing 31 jurisdictions. The new network is intended to support jurisdictions primarily from emerging markets in their adoption journeys, providing assistance to build local capacity to implement the standards, and a platform for advancing information sharing at a regional level. So far, 56 jurisdictions, both from developed and emerging markets, have taken action to adopt or otherwise use the ISSB standards. ISSB Chair Emmanuel Faber said the network is also important to “all other jurisdictions” because firms with global supply chains will benefit from the availability of comparable data and disclosures from across the value chain and such disclosures will facilitate trade. IOSCO said more jurisdictions have expressed interest in joining the network in the coming months. This week, the UK Sustainability Disclosure Technical Advisory Committee endorsed the ISSB standards, agreeing to full alignment with the majority its criteria.

@IOSCOPress members from 31 jurisdictions have joined the network, which will support capacity-building efforts mostly in emerging markets. https://t.co/IkD1S49mg6

— Regulation Asia (@RegulationAsia) December 20, 2024

The Council of the European Union confirmed that the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) would now come into effect from December 2025 after member states backed a one-year delay. The decision to postpone the regulation, which was proposed by the European Commission in October, followed increasing pressure from affected companies and countries, claiming its requirements were unworkable within the original timeframe. The EUDR requires imports of many key commodities – palm oil, cattle, cocoa, coffee, soy, rubber, wood – and certain derived products to provide documentary evidence that their supply chain does not contribute to deforestation. A statement from the council said the postponement would allow third countries, member states, operators and traders to be “fully prepared in terms of their due diligence obligations”, in order to ensure impacted commodities and products imported to or exported from the EU are deforestation-free.  The “targeted amendment”, agreed by the council and the European Parliament on 3 December, means the rules of the EUDR will apply on 30 December 2025. The regulation will now be signed and published in the Official Journal of the EU, so that it can enter into force before the end of the year. The ‘trilogue’ deal reached by EU institutions earlier this month left the key elements of the EUDR largely unchanged, following efforts by the European People’s Party to water it down. The compromise also commits the commission to finalise the country risk benchmarking six months before the application of the EUDR, and provides an opportunity to simplify and reduce administrative burdens in a review scheduled for 2028. The World Wide Fund for Nature called for the commission to use the additional time “to ensure clear, robust implementation” and urged EU member states to prepare for effective checks and controls.  

The independent Land, Nature and Adapted Systems (LNAS) Advisory Group has finalised its framework defining adaptation and resilience-enabling investments, with the aim of mobilising adaptation finance and increasing resilience to climate risks. In its report, ‘Framework to develop a UK Green Taxonomy for adaptation and resilience’, LNAS proposed a five-step approach to defining adaptation investments and establishing practical, outcome-focused criteria. The LNAS Advisory Group, spun off from the Green Technical Advisory Group (GTAG), was tasked with advising the UK government on how to develop adaptation and resilience within a UK Green Taxonomy. To illustrate how the framework can work in practice, the report included a ‘cities and settlements’ example, demonstrating how to address critical risks such as urban heat stress and flooding. “To date no country has yet developed an adaptation taxonomy that starts with the outcome we need to see – which is a real economy adapted to the climate change that is already here and yet to come,” said Ingrid Holmes, Executive Director at the Green Finance Institute and former GTAG Chair. “The first principles-based approach described in this paper aims to do just that, providing a framework to support the mobilisation of finance into resilience and adaptation-focused investment, starting with the built environment.” In November, the UK government announced a consultation on the value case of a UK Green Taxonomy, and has identified sustainable finance as one of the five priority growth opportunities for the UK. 

A statement from more than 90 organisations, including numerous investors, has criticised EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s recent Omnibus proposal. The statement, coordinated by European law firm Frank Bold and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), has called on EU leaders to instead focus on streamlining and simplifying its sustainability reporting standards. The statement said the organisations are “deeply concerned” over the “misrepresentation of EU sustainability reporting as a threat to competitiveness”. The omnibus proposes to simultaneously modify several pieces of sustainability-focused legislation – namely the EU taxonomy for sustainable economic activities, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive – to reduce perceived sustainability reporting burdens facing corporates. The statement warned, however, that the “one-sided representation” of the omnibus seems to pursue a “full deregulatory agenda” rather than a simplification of EU sustainability reporting standards to support its objectives and companies in their sustainable transition towards “more resilient and competitive” business models. The statement also stressed that legal certainty for companies must “take precedence over short-sighted political reactions”, with a key concern of revising the rules being the potential costs incurred by companies already preparing their CSRD-aligned disclosures ahead of the directive entering into force early next year. “Undermining EU sustainability reporting risks undoing years of progress in transparency and accountability,” said Maria van der Heide, Head of EU Policy at ShareAction, one of the statement’s signatories. “Instead of rolling back regulations, EU policymakers should focus on making compliance simpler and clearer, giving businesses the stability they need to lead the green and social transition. Sustainability reporting is not a burden – it’s the foundation of Europe’s strategy to protect its people, planet, and global competitiveness.”

📢 Legal certainty > legislative ping-pong.

90+ organisations urge EU leaders to protect the sustainability reporting framework, promoting smart implementation and providing the legal certainty companies need to thrive.

🔍 https://t.co/tzTd2oFW1N pic.twitter.com/DzL9yHzJtr

— WWF EU (@WWFEU) December 12, 2024