At the 36th meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) last October ending in Geneva, Switzerland, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced winners of the second edition of the ISAR Honours

The ISAR Honours seek to support efforts on enhancing the quality and comparability of companies’ reporting on sustainability issues and on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its usefulness for monitoring the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This year’s honours were scooped by five national and two international initiatives that assist enterprises to publish data on their contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and promote best practices in sustainability and reporting on SDGs.

National initiatives:

1. FSR – Danish Auditors
   Denmark
   ESG Key Performance Indicators in the Annual Report
2. Securities and Exchange Commission
   Philippines
   Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for Publicly Listed Corporations in the Philippines
3. German Council for Sustainable Development
   Germany
   German Sustainability Code (Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitskodex)
4. SAMCODES Standards Committee
   South Africa
   South African Guideline for the Reporting of Environmental, Social and Governance Parameters within the Mining, Oil and Gas Industries (SAMESG Guideline)
5. SynTao
   China
   Material and Quantitative Indicators (MQI) Reporting Guidelines and Database

International initiatives:

1. Impact Institute
   The Netherlands
   Framework for Impact Statements
2. World Business Council for Sustainable Development
   Switzerland
   Aligning Enterprise Risk Management with ESG-Related

This year UNCTAD received 33 applications from public and private sector entities, reflecting a variety of approaches towards the facilitation of the role of enterprise reporting in attaining the SDGs and representing more than 19 countries from developing, developed and transition economies.

The nominations almost doubled compared to 2018, which demonstrates continuous progress in the area of sustainability reporting and proves the growing commitment of businesses to the 2030 Agenda.