The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form a partnership with the goal of this collaboration is to strengthen sustainable capital markets by improving sustainability and climate reporting in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). The collaboration was announced on 27 June 2024 at London’s Climate Action Week. 

Financial institutions that focus on sustainability and impact investing may benefit from this partnership, as it aims to increase transparency, enable better assessments of environmental risks, and to identify sustainable investment opportunities aligned with global standards. 

Let’s explore the partnership between IFRS and IFC. 

About the IFRS and IFC partnership

In June 2023, the IFRS Foundations International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) issued two inaugural Standards — IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 with the goal of delivering consistency in sustainability-related financial disclosures. The partnership aims to strengthen sustainable capital markets by promoting and building capacity for consistent application of both the IFRS standards across EMDEs. This includes: 

• Developing toolkits and research publications, as well as conducting training programs to encourage sustainability reporting. 
  
  

• Plans to provide tailored support and technical assistance to help jurisdictions adopt and implement these standards effectively, building on IFC’s successful initiatives in Bangladesh and Jordan. 
  
  

The partnership builds on IFC’s initiatives, such as the Sustainable Banking and Finance Network (SBFN) and Beyond the Balance Sheet program for driving sustainability reporting in emerging markets. 

Next Steps

The IFRS-IFC partnership aims to revolutionize sustainability reporting in emerging markets by uniting the IFRS’s commitment to high-quality sustainability and climate-related financial reporting IFC’s global reach. The collaboration is a commitment to “future-proof financial markets against environmental risk” and support the private sector's ability to pursue opportunities via the increased transparency.

While you’re here…

Partnerships like this between IFRS, IFC and other regulatory entities can ultimately result in potential new deal flow opportunities for impact investors and lenders in private markets. However, identifying opportunities early and maintaining sufficient deal volume can be a major data challenge for private credit and equity firms. This is an area where Auquan can help. 

Auquan uses advanced AI to generate material insights on any entity worldwide—public or private—and fine-tunes them for your individual workflows. 

Let’s explore how Auquan can help you and your team eliminate tedious and time-consuming manual data work and focus more on analyzing insights and making strategic decisions.