Successful premiere of the first Sustainability Standards Conference at Goethe University Frankfurt

On June 10, 2024, the first Sustainability Standards Conference was held at Goethe University in Frankfurt. The conference was jointly organized by the IFRS Foundation, the German standard setter DRSC, Goethe University Frankfurt and the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, with the support of the House of Finance and Deutsche Börse Group. Topics related to the current and future standard-setting activities of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) were presented and discussed from a practical and academic perspective.

More than 500 participants attended the event. The approximately 160 participants on site came from the fields of business, academia, standard setting and politics. Among those present were the ISSB Chair and Vice Chair, Emmanuel Faber and Sue Lloyd, as well as other ISSB members. In several panel discussions, ISSB members discussed topics such as demand, adoption and future steps towards a global baseline for sustainability reporting with representatives from practice, academia and politics.

Experts from practice who took part in the panel discussion included Dr. Ingrid Hengster (Barclays Bank), Dr. Stefan Leithner (Deutsche Börse) and Adam Pradela (DHL). Scientific expertise was provided by Prof. Stefan Reichelstein, Ph.D. (University of Mannheim), Prof. Dr. Kathrin Böhning-Gaese (Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre), Prof. Dr. Axel Weber (Center for Financial Studies) and Prof. Loriana Pelizzon, Ph.D. (SAFE). Political representatives present included Irene Heemskerk (ECB) and Patrik Hoedjes (EIOPA).

The conference was opened by welcoming remarks from the President of Goethe University, Prof. Dr. Enrico Schleiff, the Hessian Minister of Finance, Prof. Dr. Ralph Alexander Lorz, and the Chairman of the ISSB, Emmanuel Faber. Prof. Dr. Rainer Klump (House of Finance) and Prof. Dr. Florian Heider (SAFE) guided through the program.

The recordings of the individual panel discussions can be accessed online via the following link.

This conference marked the start of a series of annual conferences. The second Sustainability Standards Conference will also take place at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main in 2025.