PARTNERSHIPS have been formed to make data disclosures in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) arena more manageable, following agreement by capital markets, regulators, investors and businesses that sustainability reporting needs to be streamlined.

In light of this, the central banks and capital market regulators of five South-east Asian countries are working with the Sustainable Finance Institute Asia (SFIA) to align their approach on ESG data disclosures. (The SFIA is an independent institute set up to catalyse ideas on sustainable finance at the policy level in Asean, and to push for action to support those policy ideas.)

These five countries and SFIA have partnered a new platform launched by two international standard bodies for sustainability disclosures, namely, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the IFRS Foundation, which are jointly trying to iron out the sustainability reporting issues faced by supply and value-chain players.