IIRC welcomes 'Investor Agenda for Corporate ESG Reporting'

The International Integrated Reporting Council has welcomed the publication of ‘Investor Agenda for Corporate ESG Reporting’ – the result of investor collaboration to set out a clear statement on what investors need from ESG reporting.

The report states that the group of investors consider integrated reporting “to be a desirable end goal.”

The publication is the result of a lively debate at a meeting of the International Integrated Reporting Council in April 2016, during which investor bodies were called on to work together to set out a clear and persuasive statement regarding their expectations for ESG reporting.

The investor bodies worked closely with participants of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue to develop this paper, recognising the important role of the organisations in the Dialogue to drive a unified agenda for ESG reporting.

Commenting, Richard Howitt, CEO, IIRC stated: “Businesses tell us anecdotally that investors are beginning to ask them about their integrated reporting and performance. As we have published, this is backed up by a myriad of academic studies setting out the benefits of communicating with stakeholders on broader value creation. This new paper, from investor bodies, makes it clear that these studies are right. Investors do use this information in this stock picking, in screening, and to assess risk management. Reporting on these factors demonstrates to investors that management are taking these issues seriously.

“I’d like to record my thanks to the investor bodies that developed this report. The market needed a unified voice from investors on the importance of ESG information and this report delivers a clear direction of travel we can all learn from.

“As the convenor of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue, the IIRC pledges to proactively drive better coherence, consistency and comparability in the corporate reporting field. We look forward to announcing further details of this work in the coming weeks and to working with the Global Investor Organisations Committee as our work develops.”

Ian Mackintosh, Chair, Corporate Reporting Dialogue said: “We strongly welcome the report from major investors on their agenda for ESG reporting and will take it as valued input for the further work of the Dialogue.”