The IFRS Foundation Trustees announced today four new appointments to the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), including Richard Barker, Verity Chegar, Bing Leng, and Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien, who join as inaugural members.

Launched in November 2021 at the COP26 climate conference, the ISSB aims to develop IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, in order to provide a global baseline of disclosure requirements that can be used by jurisdictions on a standalone basis or incorporated into broader reporting frameworks.

The new appointments bring the board to six members, following the recent naming of former Danone CEO and Chairman Emmanuel Faber as Chair, and the IASB’s Sue Lloyd as Vice-Chair. Additional appointments are expected shortly, to bring the ISSB to a quorum of eight members.

Emmanuel Faber, Chair of the ISSB, said:

“I am delighted to welcome Richard, Verity, Bing and Ndidi to the ISSB. They all have a passion for sustainability and reporting and will help get the ISSB off to a great start as we prepare to discuss the feedback received to our current consultation.”

Barker leads the University of Oxford Saïd Business School’s sustainable business initiatives. He is also currently the chair of the expert panel of Accounting for Sustainability (A4S). Previously, he has also served as a member of the UK Corporate Reporting Council, the Financial Reporting Advisory Board,  and the European Accounting Association’s Accounting Standards Committee. 

Barker said:

“As a long-standing proponent of the creation of an international standard-setter for sustainability disclosures, I am truly excited to join the ISSB.”

Chegar joins ISSB from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), where she leads the pension fund’s policy engagement on sustainable investment and stewardship issues and manages the fund’s work to achieve net zero. She has also been serving as Co-Vice Chair of the SASB Standards Board since 2017, responsible for overseeing the development of industry-based standards. Previously, she has also served at investment giant BlackRock.

Chegar said:

“I’m delighted that the ISSB has committed to building on the industry-based SASB Standards and look forward to helping deliver a global baseline of decision-useful information to investors.”

Leng is a Director in the Accounting Regulatory Department of the Chinese Ministry of Finance, where he oversees sustainability reporting initiatives. He led and initiated the development of digital taxonomies to enable electronic reporting and plans focused on making the accounting profession more digitized. Leng is also currently a member of the International Accounting Standards Board’s IFRS Taxonomy Consultative Group and has also been a member of the board of directors of XBRL international.

Leng said:

“I am honoured to join the ISSB as one of the inaugural members and look forward to working with colleagues and stakeholders to deliver a set of high-quality IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards as a comprehensive global baseline.​”

In her last role, Nnoli-Edozien served as the inaugural Group Chief Sustainability and Governance Officer of African manufacturing business Dangote Industries, where she was responsible for the development of the company’s sustainability culture, strategy, and reporting across 14 countries. Nnoli-Edozien has also founded and served on different boards, committees and initiatives focused on impact investing, and sustainability reporting and governance.

 Nnoli-Edozien said:

“I am honoured by the opportunity to join the ISSB and am committed to bringing to the Board my experience from many years of connecting businesses and sustainable development across Africa and Europe.”