This draft Framework marks an important milestone in the Taskforce on Inequality and Social-Related Financial Disclosures’ (TISFD) work to help businesses and investors place people at the heart of decision-making. It is the product of extensive collaboration across business, finance, labour, civil society and technical experts, and we are deeply grateful to the many organisations and individuals who have contributed their time, experience and insight to bring it to this point.
Designed to be market-usable, the strength of TISFD’s Framework rests not only on its technical rigour but on the collective effort behind it and the willingness of leaders across sectors to work together through complexity in pursuit of a framework that is practical, credible and globally relevant.
The need for this Framework is becoming increasingly clear and compelling. Inequalities stand at modern day highs. One billion working people do not earn enough to afford a decent living, while the richest 10 percent have seen their share of global wealth increase.
Meanwhile, businesses and investors are navigating a period of profound economic and social change. The rapid advance of AI and the climate transition present opportunities, but also the risk of widening gaps in access to secure work, income and economic participation.
In this context, people-related issues should be seen as central to resilience and long-term value creation. Businesses perform best in economies and societies that are stable, productive and able to support sustainable growth over the long term. When work is secure and fairly rewarded, when people’s rights are central and when communities can participate in economic success, businesses are better positioned to thrive and create long-term value.
For investors, these dynamics can compound across markets and economies, contributing to system-level risks that affect growth, stability and long-term portfolio outcomes. In a world of immense structural shifts, understanding how social issues, especially inequalities, shape investment risks and opportunities is becoming an increasingly important part of sound governance, strategy and risk management.
Yet many business and investment decision-makers still lack consistent, comparable information, or fail to take account of how people-related impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities affect performance and long-term value creation.
The TISFD Framework aims to make people-related impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities more visible, more coherent and more useful for decision-making. Better information will not solve these challenges on its own, but it can help businesses and investors see more clearly, act earlier, make more informed strategic choices, and be more accountable for their actions.
Three features of the Framework are especially important to note:
- First, it supports greater harmonisation across the disclosure landscape by building on existing standards and frameworks, including those of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), helping reduce fragmentation and improve comparability.
- Second, it can be used alongside existing standards and practices to strengthen visibility and understanding of people-related issues without duplicating effort.
- Third, it has been designed to reflect the deep interconnections between people, climate and nature to support a more coherent governance and transition strategy.
This draft Framework provides a foundation for further development. It does not yet include all elements of the final Framework, and it will continue to evolve through consultation and engagement across TISFD’s Regional Councils, Global Alliance, Knowledge Partners and wider stakeholder community, including further development of metrics and targets and practical assessment guidance.
With the online consultation platform now open, we invite businesses, financial institutions, standard-setters, policymakers, labour organisations, civil society and other stakeholders to continue to shape this important work. Your input will be critical to ensuring the Framework meets real-world needs and helps advance our shared interest in building stronger, more resilient societies and economies, with people at the centre.
Peter Bakker, Sharan Burrow, Arunma Oteh and Gabriela Ramos
TISFD Co-Chairs