- Head of Sustainable Investment
United States, Intermediary
ChangeThe views expressed are those of the author at the time of writing. Other teams may hold different views and make different investment decisions. The value of your investment may become worth more or less than at the time of original investment. While any third-party data used is considered reliable, its accuracy is not guaranteed. For professional, institutional, or accredited investors only.
This week, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) organization published the first two Sustainability Disclosure Standards. Developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the new standards provide a comprehensive global baseline centered on financial materiality. The focus on financial materiality addresses a critical issue: the need for market participants to accurately assess the enterprise value of individual companies with information on sustainability topics most relevant to financial outcomes, industry by industry.
Accurate, comparable information about corporate enterprise value is essential to our ability to make informed investment decisions on behalf of our clients. For too long, investors have lacked the data necessary to price sustainability-related risks and opportunities, which can feed directly into the assessment of enterprise value. Without this information, investors run the risk of paying too high or low a price for an issuer’s securities. The ISSB’s efforts to standardize sustainability-related financial disclosures should improve data quality and enable national securities regulators and industry groups to adopt and support internationally comparable reporting.
Some Wellington investment teams have already seen the value of these disclosures, where they are available. For example, climate-related information has been a key input to several recent investment recommendations:
- One portfolio management team increased its holdings in a real estate investment trust that had expanded its investments in certified “green” office buildings, which typically command a premium relative to noncertified buildings.
- A research analyst reported improved financial outlooks for several mining companies, based on both structural demand from the transition to a lower-carbon economy and the allocation of capital spending to decarbonize the metals supply chain. The analyst’s view that these companies’ efforts could improve the mining industry’s long-term positioning may be underappreciated by the market.
- One investment team identified a semiconductor manufacturer as more attractive relative to peers based on the dispersed locations of its fabrication plants: The company can draw water — large amounts of which are essential to the chip manufacturing process — from diversified sources.
- A team developed a negative assessment of a hydroelectric power utility, based on its exposure to drought risk.
Establishing a baseline for sustainability disclosures will also help companies, which currently face a barrage of demands for reporting amid a fragmented, complex, and confusing landscape of disclosure expectations. By homing in on the issues most pertinent to investors, the new ISSB standards should provide clarity for companies and allow them to disclose material information with greater efficiency and accuracy. The interoperability of the ISSB standards with others, including the anticipated climate-disclosure framework from the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), should reinforce the role of the ISSB standards as the global baseline for sustainability disclosure for capital markets.
We encourage companies to adopt these standards voluntarily, even if their securities market regulators do not yet require them. While meeting these disclosure expectations will require reporting entities to deepen their knowledge of the sustainability topics most material to their business, we believe greater transparency will have significant long-term benefits for financial markets, including for the issuers of securities themselves, investors, and the millions of beneficiaries who rely on them.
Expert
Related insights
Showing
of
Insights Posts
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Impact measurement and management: addressing key challenges
Continue reading
event
5
min
Article
2025-10-31
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
2023 Climate Report
Continue readingMultiple authors
event
Report
2025-06-30
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
2023 Sustainability Report
Continue reading
event
Report
2025-04-30
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Key updates to Wellington’s 2023 proxy voting guidelines
Continue reading
event
Quick Take
2024-02-29
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Building climate resilience: Toward a practical corporate framework
Continue readingMultiple authors
event
Whitepaper
2023-10-03
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
URL References
Related Insights
Stay up to date with the latest market insights and our point of view.
highlight_off
You've been subscribed
Thank you for subscribing. You can manage your subscription using the links provided in any of our subscription emails.
Read next
Showing
of
Insights Posts
Impact
Sustainability
Portfolio strategy
Impact investing
Equity
Fixed income
Sustainability policies
Impact measurement
Sustainable investing
Article
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Impact measurement and management: addressing key challenges
Our IMM practice leader describes common impact investing challenges and suggests ways to overcome them.
event
5
min
Article
2025-10-31
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Climate
Sustainability policies
Carbon emissions
Climate report
Report
Business practices
Sustainable investing
No Optimizely
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
2023 Climate Report
Aligned with TCFD recommendations, this report describes how we manage climate-related risks and opportunities, engage with companies on climate change, and reduce our own carbon footprint.
Multiple authors
event
Report
2025-06-30
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
2023 Sustainability Report
We appreciate the opportunity to share our approach to advancing sustainable practices across our investment, client, and infrastructure platforms.
event
Report
2025-04-30
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Key updates to Wellington’s 2023 proxy voting guidelines
We periodically update our guidelines in an ongoing effort to help Wellington's investment teams vote proxies in our clients' best interests. Read about key updates for this year from two members of Wellington's ESG team.
event
Quick Take
2024-02-29
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Risk management
Climate
Utilities
Sustainability policies
Business practices
Energy
Real estate
Whitepaper
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Building climate resilience: Toward a practical corporate framework
The need for systemic climate change resilience is becoming clear. We present a practical framework to help companies enhance resilience in their own operations.
Multiple authors
event
Whitepaper
2023-10-03
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Biodiversity: Why investors should take note
With scientists now broadly agreeing on the risks posed by accelerating biodiversity loss, Chris Goolgasian and Jenny Xie assess implications for investors and steps they can take.
event
Article
2023-12-31
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Climate
Energy
Materials
Sustainable investing
Macro and market
Sustainability policies
China
Equity
EM equity
Article
Archived
info
A lesson in climate resilience: Why China’s recent heat wave wasn’t worse
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
See why Hong Kong-based Macro Strategist Santiago Millán believes China's investments in climate resilience can be a lesson for the rest of the world.
Continue reading
event
Article
2023-09-30
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Sustainability policies
Carbon emissions
Corporate social responsibility
Business practices
Sustainable investing
Energy
Climate
Article
Archived
info
Enhancing corporate sustainability: About our innovative virtual power purchase agreement
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Learn about Wellington's groundbreaking renewable energy initiative, projected to match 100% of our US corporate and US employees’ home electricity usage with wind energy.
Continue reading
Multiple authors
event
Article
2023-08-31
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
ESG insights for private companies
Private portfolio companies
Business practices
ESG
Alternatives investing
DEI
Sustainability policies
Alternatives
Private equity
Sustainable investing
Article
Archived
info
Governance best practices in public markets
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
For private companies approaching the public markets, we highlight the corporate governance best practices that can help pave strong relationships with public market investors.
Continue reading
Multiple authors
event
Article
2023-07-31
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Sustainability
ESG
Sustainable investing
Impact
Climate
Net zero
Stewardship
Carbon emissions
Sustainability policies
Business practices
Article
Archived
info
Mid-2022 ESG & Sustainability Outlook
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Our Mid-2022 Sustainability Outlook provides an update on our sustainability efforts, expansion of research into the economic impacts of climate change, ESG integration and stewardship, and impact platform.
Continue reading
Multiple authors
event
Article
2022-12-31
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Climate
Net zero
Carbon emissions
Sustainable investing
Sustainability policies
Business practices
Quick Take
Archived
info
Climate change investing: Research and collaboration continue
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
Our research into the economic impacts of climate change continues to expand, as does our climate-related engagement and industry-leadership efforts. Members of our Climate Research Team summarize our ongoing progress.
Continue reading
event
Quick Take
2022-12-01
Archived
info
Archived pieces remain available on the site. Please consider the publish date while reading these older pieces.
URL References
Related Insights
contact us
legal Information
© Copyright 2024 Wellington Management Company LLP. All rights reserved. WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT ® is a registered service mark of Wellington Group Holdings LLP. For institutional or professional investors only.