African ministers call for collaboration between ISSB and stakeholders

African ministers and senior officials have expressed support for the work of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) in a communiqué published after the International Cooperation Forum and Meeting of African Ministers of Finance, Economy, and the Environment in Egypt last week.

The communiqué encouraged the ISSB to work closely with African stakeholders and to provide strong advisory and capacity-building support to achieve early adoption of the ISSB's standards in Africa.

"I'm greatly encouraged by the African community's interest in and support for the ISSB's work. … We look forward to working closely with stakeholders across Africa and in developing and emerging economies elsewhere to build sustainability disclosure capacity," ISSB Chair Emmanuel Faber said in a news release.

African officials have reported the need for more coordination and commitment ahead of the UN's Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP27) in November in Egypt, while highlighting the role of stakeholders and "capitalising on the needed interplay between them".

The communiqué also emphasised the disproportionate impact of climate change and nature loss on the African continent given its low carbon footprint, contributing to less than 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, and the need to focus on and deliver implementation in relation to commitments already made under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

African officials support the ISSB's work to introduce "a global baseline of sustainability disclosures to meet the needs of capital markets, which will enhance transparency, accountability, efficiency, and comparability across market". This echoed the July comments of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, representing AICPA & CIMA, on the ISSB's sustainability exposure drafts, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2.

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.