What do shifting sustainability regulations mean for business?

Key considerations for navigating rapidly changing global sustainability reporting standards.

In brief

• It is important for business leaders and policymakers to stay updated with global sustainability reporting standards for compliance and transparency.
• Business leaders need to formulate strategies for navigating rapidly changing regulations in the sustainability landscape.
• Whether they take a voluntary, mandatory or hybrid approach to sustainability reporting, policymakers have a critical role to play.

Business leaders are navigating a rapidly evolving sustainability reporting landscape. As policies are put in place and, in some cases, revised, these leaders should find the most cost-effective ways to meet the requirements and expectations of both policymakers and investors.

For their part, policymakers should strive to set policies that promote the wellbeing of both companies and individuals. 

Four key developments are shaping the evolution of the sustainability reporting landscape:¹

1. The simplification of EU sustainability reporting requirements
2. The adoption of sustainability reporting standards by many jurisdictions based on the model standards developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)
3. A shifting regulatory environment in the US
4. The release of a global sustainability assurance standard and a global sustainability assurance ethics standard