Finance, meet Sustainability. On this episode of the podcast, I spoke with Andromeda (Andie) Wood who is Vice President for Regulatory Strategy for Workiva. She is an expert in the role of technology in corporate reporting, taxonomy design and data modelling, and holds a wealth of knowledge and deep understanding of the impact of EU and UK regulation on global firms, particularly in the areas of corporate transparency and ESG. There is an undeniable global shift towards greater standardisation in reporting ESG initiatives across markets.As it stands, corporate reporting comprises the financial statements and management reports of companies, including non-financial and corporate governance statements, as well as country-by-country reporting. Under the new directive, reports would also include sustainability information.While new standards consolidate several diverse formats previously used for reporting on ESG progress, Andie explains why transforming standards will cultivate a more hygienic reporting culture that will champion ESG results.We covered a lot of ground in this podcast, such as:Push for improvement: These new standards address a worrying lack of clarity on how to report on sustainability, including information on methodology requirements, to more accurately highlight failure pointsFuture-proof ESG reporting: They will help businesses to mitigate challenges and prepare for the unknown by implementing processes that establish flexibility and controlAcknowledging that ESG plays a direct role in top-line growth: New standards establish critical business success factors, highlighting the role of ESG and encouraging businesses to integrate it into the overall business strategyMoving towards international comparability: An incremental, but mindful, transition towards transparent reporting will help to build up a rich history of reporting across regions which investors can use to better judge business progress, both individually and competitivelyThis was an interesting podcast and introduced me to the link between finance and sustainability.

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