Aims for Integrated Reporting are in line with other global movements

A report from the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) titled, ‘The Financial System We Need’ argues that there is now a historic opportunity to shape a financial system that can more effectively finance the development of an inclusive economy. The report states that to achieve sustainable development “will require a re-alignment of the financial system with the goals of sustainable development.”

UNEP set up an inquiry into the design of a sustainable financial system to advance policy options to deliver a step change in the financial system’s effectiveness in mobilizing capital towards a green and inclusive economy. The report cites a major challenge being to ‘develop greater coherence amongst reporting codes, a need to reflect in the Corporate Reporting Dialogue’. The IIRC convened the Corporate Reporting Dialogue in 2014 as an initiative designed to respond to market calls for greater coherence, consistency and comparability between corporate reporting frameworks, standards and related requirements.

The report also recognises that ‘our economies, societies and environment are inextricably linked’, stating the ‘support for integrated responses to the most difficult problems has never been greater.’ Integrated Reporting enables businesses to develop an understanding of the interconnectedness of their business, and how all of their resources and relationships contribute to value creation over time.

There are many other international organisations that are working towards a system change that will bring about a more inclusive economy. It is in this spirit that the IIRC supports the powerful Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, spearheaded by Lady de Rothschild that is convening global leaders such as Bill Clinton, Mark Carney and Christine Lagarde, around a set of principles intended to change behaviour and incentive systems that favour a long-term approach.  It is that shift from financial to inclusive capitalism that Integrated Reporting embodies with its multi-faceted approach to understanding and articulating value creation.

Lady Lynn de Rothschild, co-founder of the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism and CEO, E.L. Rothschild, will give the opening keynote address at the 2015 Official Integrated Reporting Convention on Tuesday 10 November 2015.