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.