UNDP and Global Partners Establish Sustainability Disclosure and Management Hubs Across Developing Economies
Key Points:
- Global Collaboration for Sustainability: UNDP, in partnership with GRI, GSG Impact, IFRS Foundation, and ISO, is launching Sustainability Disclosure and Management Hubs (SDMHs) across 14 developing and emerging economies to enhance sustainability disclosure standards.
- Empowering Developing Economies: The SDMHs aim to build capacity in sustainability management, aligning with national development priorities and facilitating the adoption of international standards.
- Phased Implementation: Initial projects will launch in 2024 across six countries, with expansion to eight additional countries in 2025, fostering transparency and competitiveness in global markets.
A Global Alliance for Sustainability
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), GSG Impact, the IFRS Foundation, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), has formed a unique alliance to establish Sustainability Disclosure and Management Hubs (SDMHs). These hubs are set to enhance sustainability disclosure standards across 14 developing and emerging economies in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia during 2024 and 2025.
Expanding Existing Partnerships
Building on the partnership between UNDP and the IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), initially established at COP27 in 2022, this strengthened collaboration aims to facilitate the adoption of sustainability disclosure and management standards. These standards include IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures, alongside GRI Standards and management standards developed by ISO and UNDP.
Empowering Emerging Economies
Marcos Neto, Assistant Secretary General, Assistant Administrator, and Director, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), expressed enthusiasm for the initiative: “We are excited to collaborate with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), GSG Impact, IFRS Foundation (IFRS), and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in launching the SDMHs, a remarkable step forward in advancing global sustainability disclosure and management standards. These hubs will empower developing and emerging economies, fostering capacity building in sustainability disclosure and management while aligning with their national development priorities through a comprehensive approach.”
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Phased Implementation Strategy
In 2024, the SDMHs will execute pilot projects in six developing and emerging economies across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. These projects will focus on capacity building, aligning with national development priorities, stock exchange guidance, and regulatory development, in collaboration with UNDP Financial Centres for Sustainability Network (FC4S) Members. The initiative will expand to eight additional countries in 2025, covering a total of 14 countries.
Supporting Global Standards
Jingdong Hua, Vice-Chair of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), highlighted the significance of these hubs: “The introduction of the ISSB Standards globally can help deliver decision-useful, consistent, and comparable information to investors globally, advancing the understanding of the sustainability-related risks and opportunities companies face. To secure this, guidance, education, and training is needed. We applaud UNDP for their leadership in establishing sustainability disclosure hubs. We look forward to partnering closely to support this vital work.”
Increasing Demand for Transparency
Peter Paul van de Wijs, Chief External Affairs Officer of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), emphasized the growing need for transparency: “The increased demand for comparable, quality data related to the impacts of companies’ operations and products, as well as the financial implications of those impacts on the business, adds pressure up and down global value chains. We are proud to be part of this initiative from UNDP, which supports companies and governments to understand how our various disclosure mechanisms and frameworks complement each other to increase transparency, support sustainable development, and help companies remain competitive.”
Collaborative Impact
Sergio Mujica, Secretary General of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), praised the collaboration: “We are extremely pleased to have recently formalized our collaboration with UNDP. The SDMH initiative is another opportunity to have the meaningful impact together that we would not be able to achieve alone. We look forward to bringing the value of ISO to the partnership and working with all involved. Our standards are more powerful together. By demonstrating the connection and interoperability between them, we will be building capacity in countries with developing and emerging economies to more effectively and efficiently manage sustainability disclosures.”
Fostering Inclusivity and Transparency
Nick Hurd, Chair of GSG Impact and the Impact Taskforce, reiterated the importance of stakeholder inclusivity: “As long-standing partners of UNDP, and members of the IFRS Foundation’s ISSB Sustainability Consultative Committee and Partnership Framework for Capacity Building, we are delighted to support the establishment of SDMHs, through close collaboration at the global level and also through our GSG National Partners in emerging economies included in the 2024-2025 leg of the UNDP initiative. We expect this to build on and be closely coordinated with our ongoing efforts to ensure adequate levels of inclusivity from key stakeholders in emerging and development economies in global sustainability disclosure standard setting efforts – as part of our mission to advance wider impact transparency, which has seen us work hand in hand with UNDP FC4S and UNDP’s country offices from 2023.”
Harnessing Global Expertise
The SDMHs will leverage global expertise by engaging with partners to enhance outreach, communication, and resource-sharing, ensuring the success of this initiative.
