This document serves as a useful tool for businesses looking to implement the ISSB Standards voluntarily, especially in places where mandatory sustainability disclosure laws are not in place. In addition to helping businesses put these criteria into practice, the handbook helps them update investors on their progress, guaranteeing uniformity and openness in sustainability reporting.

Companies are realizing more and more that the ISSB Standards are crucial resources for complying with international disclosure regulations. Companies may offer a uniform and comparable foundation for sustainability information by implementing these standards, which is essential for making well-informed investment decisions. The handbook is meant to be used in conjunction with other IFRS publications, such IFRS S1 and S2, which deal with disclosures relating to climate change and general sustainability, respectively.

Carine Smith Ihenacho, Chair of the ISSB Investor Advisory Group (IIAG) and Chief Governance and Compliance Officer at Norges Bank Investment Management, stressed the need of consistent and comparable sustainability reporting throughout the event. "Sustainability information needs to be consistent and comparable across companies and over time in order to support ownership activities, risk management procedures, and investment decisions across a diversified portfolio," the speaker said.

Emmanuel Faber, the chair of the ISSB, emphasized the difficulties businesses encounter when utilizing a range of frameworks and standards that impede the comparability and decision-usefulness of sustainability-related data. By assisting businesses in switching from their existing procedures to a single strategy compliant with the ISSB Standards, the new handbook seeks to simplify these procedures.

These criteria are shaped in large part by the 117-member ISSB Investor Advisory Group, which represents 62 of the top global asset management companies. These members, whose assets total more than US$54 trillion, provide a worldwide viewpoint to the standard-setting process and guarantee that the standards satisfy the various demands of investors in various markets.