In a time of heightened global uncertainty and rising social discontent, the opportunity to consider and make progress on addressing global inequality and combating systemic risks such as climate change is ever more pressing. A range of regulatory reforms, policies, standards and processes is being developed internationally to promote a more socially inclusive and fair economic system, including the formal adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This report A Review of International Financial Standards as They Relate to Sustainable Development examines how the international financial standards currently relate to the goals of sustainable development and explores opportunities for better alignment as a way to promote greater stability, resilience and fairness to the financial system.
Synergies also exist with the G8’s recent work and efforts in relation to “Impact Investing” and the OECD work on this topic. In particular, there is potential to explore ways to begin to standardize the finance industry’s approach to measuring, managing and reporting the social and environmental impacts of their activities in a way that aligns with sustainable development and supports financial stability. It is against this backdrop that the Inquiry sought to investigate the financial standards further, to consider to what extent they currently relate to sustainable development, how they can support and solidify the various G20 policy commitments and the evolving country-level regulations and industry activities in a way that builds on the synergies that already exist.