The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) affirmed world leadership in championing sustainability, as it received for the third time top honors from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for promoting sustainability reporting.

During the 41st session of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) held in Geneva, Switzerland, the SEC received the ISAR Honours 2024 in the national category for empowering small, medium and large enterprises (SMLEs) in reporting their contributions to the fulfillment of national and global sustainable development goals.

The ISAR Honours recognizes policy, institutional or capacity-building initiatives that encourage and assist businesses to publish their contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and facilitating the dissemination of good practices in sustainability.

“It is an honor for the SEC Philippines to receive the prestigious ISAR Honours for the third time, as we have been steadily ramping up our efforts to highlight the importance of sustainability reporting in the corporate sector,” Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino said.

“The corporate sector has a big role to play in ensuring that we achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As a regulator, the SEC is committed to integrating sustainable practices within our organization and in the rules and regulations that we implement, in order to contribute to the overall goal of reducing the impacts of climate change,” he added.

ISAR Honours in 2019

The SEC received the ISAR Honours in 2019 for mandating sustainability and SDG reporting for publicly listed companies and again in 2022 for conducting capacity-building programs to guide them in preparing their annual sustainability reports.

This year, the UNCTAD recognized the Commission for its conduct of the SEC Small and Medium Industries and Large Enterprises Embracing Sustainability (SMILEES) Roadshow, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, through Accelerating Green and Climate Finance, a project being funded by the Government of Canada.

The SMILEES Roadshow is a multi-year initiative targeting crucial regions in the Philippines with the aim of capacitating and raising awareness among SMLEs on sustainability reporting practices through knowledge sharing, best practice examples and interactive discussions.

SMEs comprise about 90 percent of all businesses globally, spanning a wide range of businesses from various industries such as manufacturing, services and retail, among others, according to a Global Reporting Initiative report in 2020.

In the Philippines, 99.59 percent of businesses are from micro, small and medium enterprises according to the 2022 List of Establishments of the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Report impacts of business practices

During the roadshows, the SEC encourages SMLEs to measure and report the impacts of their business practices and highlight their sustainability policies to contribute to the country’s overall sustainable development goals.