Value Reporting Foundation (VRF)

Umbrella for SASB and IIRC, now merged into IFRS/ISSB to drive global harmonization of sustainability reporting.
Status: Consolidated into IFRS Foundation as of August 2022[2][4][7][8].

Formed

2021

Merger of SASB & IIRC[8]

Consolidated

2022

Merged into IFRS Foundation[2][4][7]

Key Resources

SASB Standards, IR Framework, Integrated Thinking Principles[3][4][7]

Global Reach

70+

Adopted in 70+ countries[3][4]

VRF Key Resources

Resource	Description	Legacy/Status
SASB Standards	Sector-specific, financially material ESG standards	Integrated into ISSB’s IFRS S1/S2[2][3][4][7][8]
Integrated Reporting (IR) Framework	Multi-capital, holistic value creation reporting	Co-governed by ISSB/IASB; referenced globally[2][3][4][7][8]
Integrated Thinking Principles	Guidance for connecting strategy, governance, performance	Continued use under IFRS Foundation[3][4][7]

VRF/ISSB Integration Timeline

Year	Milestone	Status
2021	VRF formed (SASB + IIRC merger)	Active[8]
2022	VRF consolidated into IFRS Foundation; ISSB established	Complete[2][4][7][8]
2023–2025	VRF resources foundational for ISSB S1/S2; ongoing integration	Ongoing[2][3][4][7][8]

VRF Resources: Global Adoption by Region (2025, est.)

Estimated adoption of SASB/IR Framework by region (2025).

VRF Integration and Influence

Harmonization: Unified SASB’s financial materiality with IIRC’s integrated thinking[2][3][4][7][8][9]
Global baseline: Provided sector-specific and multi-capital concepts for ISSB S1/S2[2][3][4][7][8][9]
Interoperability: Engaged with IFRS, GRI, CDSB, CDP to promote comparability[2][3][4][7][8][9]
Market demand: Responded to calls for simplification and convergence in ESG reporting[2][3][4][7][8][9]
Ongoing legacy: SASB and IR Framework remain reference points under IFRS/ISSB[2][3][4][7][8][9]

About the Value Reporting Foundation

The Value Reporting Foundation (VRF) was formed in 2021 from the merger of SASB and IIRC to accelerate harmonization in sustainability reporting[2][3][4][7][8][9]. Its resources—SASB Standards, the Integrated Reporting Framework, and Integrated Thinking Principles—are now foundational to the ISSB’s global baseline for sustainability disclosure. The VRF’s consolidation into the IFRS Foundation in 2022 marked a pivotal step toward unified, investor-relevant, and multi-capital reporting for global capital markets[2][3][4][7][8][9].

Note: All data reflects official IFRS, VRF, and industry updates as of May 2025.

Value Reporting Foundation

Value Reporting Foundation

Countries: Global
Function: Former umbrella for SASB and IIRC; now merged into IFRS/ISSB to support harmonization of sustainability reporting

The Value Reporting Foundation (VRF) was established in 2021 through the merger of two leading sustainability disclosure bodies: the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). The VRF was designed as an umbrella organization to accelerate convergence among corporate reporting frameworks, bridging the divide between financial and sustainability-related disclosures to create a coherent and comprehensive system for communicating enterprise value creation.

The VRF’s formation reflected growing global recognition that fragmented ESG reporting standards created confusion for companies and investors.

By consolidating SASB’s industry-specific financially material standards with the IIRC’s broader Integrated Reporting (IR) Framework, the VRF provided a unified platform emphasizing:

Financial materiality: Ensuring that sustainability factors material to enterprise value were clearly disclosed for investor decision-making.
Integrated thinking: Promoting an understanding of how sustainability issues interact with financial and strategic outcomes across multiple capitals (financial, manufactured, natural, human, social, and intellectual).

The VRF’s purpose was not to create new standards from scratch but to harmonize existing best practices and support the evolution of a more streamlined global reporting architecture. It engaged extensively with other major initiatives such as the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) to promote interoperability and comparability.

In 2022, the VRF was officially consolidated into the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation to contribute directly to the work of the newly created International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The ISSB incorporated SASB’s industry-based approach to materiality and disclosure topics into its IFRS S1 (General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information) and IFRS S2 (Climate-related Disclosures) standards.

The VRF’s merger into the IFRS Foundation represented a pivotal moment in the history of sustainability reporting, marking the beginning of an internationally coordinated effort to create a single set of sustainability disclosure standards for global capital markets.

The VRF’s intellectual legacy is visible in several aspects of the ISSB’s standards:

The use of sector-specific guidance rooted in SASB’s 77 industry standards.
The emphasis on connecting sustainability factors to enterprise value and financial materiality.
The adoption of integrated reporting principles promoting long-term, interconnected thinking about financial and non-financial drivers of performance.

Although the VRF as an institution has been absorbed, its impact remains foundational in shaping the ongoing transformation of corporate reporting practices toward a more integrated and sustainability-informed capital market infrastructure.