The Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt's leading private sector bank, has highlighted the latest developments in the S1 and S2 International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for climate-related disclosures, which will be released by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) before the end of the second half of 2023, in a discussion about sustainability on 26 February 2023 at the fourth edition of the AUC Business Forum. CIB also discussed the impact of incorporating these disclosures in the IFRS and how to implement them in Egypt. "The integration of the ISSB in the IFRS represents a fundamental shift in financial disclosures. In essence, we are witnessing multiple transformations. Sustainability is evolving in importance from the realm of reporting to that of financial disclosures," said Dalia Abdel Kader, CIB's Chief Sustainability Officer. "On another note, financial disclosures are transforming from a focus on profit making to value creation, ensuring economic, environmental, social and governance dimensions, which are all becoming core components of the financial performance of a company." The discussion also tackled the preparatory measures companies can take to integrate several reports in their financial disclosures. These reports include the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Climate-Related Financial Disclosure Framework (TCFD) and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) in financial disclosures in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It is important to note that CIB is at the forefront of banking institutions and has been issuing sustainability reports since 2015, in keeping with its efforts to disclose its sustainability practices to clients and the banking sector with transparency and integrity in accordance with the GRI standards. Additionally, the Bank has issued its first report measuring its ecological footprint in Egypt and Africa at the level of commercial banks. This demonstrates the Bank's commitment to developing a framework for disclosing sustainability practices to go beyond the standard carbon footprint reports. The Bank's efforts include issuing integrated reports to measure the Bank's ecological footprint, which entails issuing several comprehensive indicators, such as carbon, land and water footprints. CIB also received a more advanced rating than the previous year in the 2022 Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Global List, where the level of( C) exceeded the scope of awareness to reach the level of (B-) management scope, making it the only bank in Egypt to be included in this list and is also the first bank in Egypt to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The forum brought together leading experts from academia and business, including policymakers, representatives from regulatory authorities, private sector firms, auditors and consulting firms, to have fruitful discussions about the impact of incorporating climate and sustainability disclosures in the IFRS for investors and companies alike, and how to implement them. These experts also had the chance to discuss the regional opportunities and challenges that result from applying these standards and the importance of institutional cooperation in facilitating the necessary institutional changes. Abdel Kader concluded the discussion by emphasizing the importance of coordination and cooperation between academic institutions, banking institutions and companies to keep up with the developments in the sustainability field, which the AUC Business School is keen on doing.
