ACCOUNTING FOR A GREEN ECONOMY: Sustainable Finance and the Harmonisation of Sustainability Reporting

The chapter outlines the role of sustainability accounting for the European and global ambitions towards reaching the goal of sustainable finance. We illustrate and compare the two major projects for standard-setting in that field, i.e. the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group's (EFRAG) upcoming European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Sustainability Disclosure Standards. In addition, we consider the different institutional backgrounds and underlying understandings of sustainability (reporting) – and show the possible conflicts, intersections and the need for harmonisation in order to achieve a sustainability reporting environment for European companies that allows them to identify and make contributions towards the sustainable transformation of finance.