On Thursday 2 March 2023 the Chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees Erkki Liikanen, Chair of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Emmanuel Faber and Chair of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Andreas Barckow met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan.
Prime Minister Kishida said:
I would like to express my respect for the IFRS Foundation's tireless efforts in developing sustainability disclosure standards.
He continued:
As there is increased attention now being paid to corporate information on sustainability, we welcome the progress being made by the ISSB in developing international disclosure standards on climate change.
A programme of events with Japanese stakeholders
The Prime Minister also spoke at an event co-hosted by the IFRS Foundation and the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) on sustainability disclosure.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink provided the keynote speech, in which he talked about the importance of a global baseline of sustainability disclosures.
The event concluded a week-long programme of IFRS Foundation engagements in Japan, during which IFRS Foundation Trustees signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Japan’s Financial Accounting Standards Foundation (FASF), extending the FASF’s long-term financial commitment to the IFRS Foundation and its Asia-Oceania office in Tokyo for a further five years. The office has supported the work of the IASB since 2012, and will now also support the work of the ISSB.
Both the IASB and the ISSB held bilateral meetings with Japanese standards boards, with the IASB meeting the Accounting Standards Board of Japan to discuss their respective activities, including issues related to the international tax reform (Pillar Two model rules).
Yasunobu Kawanishi, Chair of the ASBJ, said:
On behalf of the ASBJ, it is our pleasure to welcome the representatives of the IASB to Tokyo, in particular Linda Mezon-Hutter in her new role as Vice-Chair of the IASB. At this meeting, we were able to discuss urgent issues as well as long-standing issues. The ASBJ finds these bilateral meetings extremely helpful in better understanding our respective views. The ASBJ looks forward to continuing these meetings and contributing to the development of IFRS Accounting Standards.
ISSB members held an inaugural meeting with the Sustainability Standards Board of Japan (SSBJ).
Yasunobu Kawanishi, Chair of the SSBJ, said:
On behalf of the SSBJ, it is our pleasure to welcome the representatives of the ISSB to Tokyo. The SSBJ is committed to developing Japanese sustainability disclosure standards that build on the global baseline of sustainability-related disclosures established by ISSB Standards. In developing our standards, we look forward to working closely with the ISSB.
Followable tags
IFRS Accounting Standards development
IFRS Sustainability Standards development
IFRS Foundation strategy and governance
