We contend that the current sustainability discourse has been captured by large asset managers and other players in the ESG investing eco-system whose sustainability motives and credentials are questionable. A financial materiality and metrics-based approach to disclosure is suboptimal, if not misleading. It is detrimental to the long-term sustainability of capital markets and a step backwards from decades of progress that has been made in sustainability reporting. It threatens to make consideration of impact on sustainable development a marginal activity. It is, therefore, not in the public interest.

Carol A. Adams, Subhash Abhayawansa,(2022)

Connecting the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing and calls for harmonisation of sustainability reporting,

Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 82, 2022,102309, ISSN 1045-2354

Required

Critically appraise whether the assertion that the sustainability standard prototype published in November 2021 represents a step backwards in sustainability reporting and conclude whether this is an example of regulatory capture by the large asset managers and the accounting profession.