The COP26 climate change conference came to an end this week.

       While global leaders made more pledges to tackle climate change, a major step taken was towards creating a unified standard for sustainability disclosures.

       Currently, there are different frameworks and standards across various jurisdictions. The lack of consistency in sustainability reporting often frustrates companies and investors.

       This new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) will develop a baseline sustainable standard for global use as environmental, social and governance or ESG investing becomes increasingly popular.

       In a recent survey, half of the investors – mostly asset managers and analysts – said they would divest from companies that are not taking sufficient action towards ESG issues.

       More than half said a lack of action on ESG issues made it likely for them to vote against an executive pay agreement. A third said they had already taken this action.

       About 79% of them said the way a company manages ESG risks and opportunities is an important factor in their investment decision-making.

       These were the findings of the PwC 2021 Global Investor Survey released recently. A total of 325 global investors were surveyed.

       About 81% would accept no more than one percentage point less in investment returns for the pursuit of ESG goals; nearly half or 49% were unwilling to accept any reduction in returns.

       About 85% said they want detailed information about the progress towards ESG goals, and 82% want ESG embedded in the corporate strategy.

       A wide margin (66%) of respondents said they are most confident ESG issues are being addressed if someone in the C-suite is accountable. More than half of the respondents (53%) thought it should be the CEO, the report says.

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