Exchanges Play a Key Role in Shaping Disclosure of People-Related Risks

Stock exchanges promote environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure by public companies and have pioneered the integration of sustainability standards across capital markets. They run training programmes on sustainability reporting, embed ESG disclosure standards and recommendations into listing rules, and, in doing so, equip investors to benchmark performance and make informed investment decisions. Many also lead by example, adopting best practice in their own sustainability reporting.

Exchanges are, in short, at the forefront of putting ESG disclosure into practice. The UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative reports that 74 of the 125 exchanges it tracks globally now publish written guidance on ESG reporting for listed companies, drawing on globally recognised standards including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB, now overseen by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)), and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Disclosure of people-related issues is a major gap in ESG-related financial disclosures

Yet while ESG reporting has become mainstream on climate and nature, disclosure of social factors – inequality chief among them – remains fragmented and difficult to access. TISFD's database of social disclosure frameworks has identified more than 2,000 individual requirements globally, spanning more than 300 unique metrics, with little coherence between them. The result is a material gap in how people-related issues are reported, with real consequences for businesses and investors alike.

This blind spot matters because inequality is not a marginal phenomenon. According to the World Inequality Report 2026, the wealthiest 10 per cent of the world's population owns 75 per cent of global wealth, while the poorest half owns just 2 per cent. A third of the global workforce – roughly one billion people – earns less than a living wage, according to the Business Commission to Tackle Inequality.

Climate change and the transition to a lower-carbon economy are compounding these pressures. In 2024 alone, heat exposure cost an estimated 640 billion labour hours worldwide. At the same time, green policies that fail to account for workers and communities risk losing public support and stalling. Artificial intelligence adds a further layer of uncertainty: expected to reshape some 40 per cent of global employment, it threatens to widen existing gaps in access to secure work, income and economic participation rather than close them.

Together, these forces are intensifying inequalities that touch people, markets and economies alike. Businesses depend on people – as workers, consumers and communities – to grow, innovate and stay competitive. Where inequality and social tension go unmanaged, the result is labour disputes, unstable operating environments, disrupted supply chains, falling productivity and weaker consumer demand – all of which erode resilience and performance. At a systemic level, widening inequality fuels social instability and political volatility, dampening economic growth more broadly.

For investors, these dynamics are not confined to individual companies; they accumulate across portfolios and shape long-term performance and returns. Without consistent, comparable information on people-related impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities, investors cannot properly price these factors into their decisions – nor can they diversify their way out of a risk that is, by its nature, systemic.

The TISFD Framework

TISFD was officially launched on 23 September 2024 during New York Climate Week, following a two-year development process and informed by input from more than 1,500 stakeholders. In May 2026, it launched its Framework (Beta Version 0.1) to begin closing this information gap, making people-related issues visible in ways that support better business decision-making, sharper investor insight and clearer accountability to stakeholders.

The Framework has been developed with a broad coalition spanning business, financial institutions, labour and civil society across every region, ensuring it is technically robust, grounded in practical experience and responsive to the realities of different markets.

Three features define TISFD's approach. First, harmonisation – by aligning with widely used standards such as ISSB, GRI and ESRS, the Framework aims to support more consistent, comparable reporting on people-related issues globally, reducing fragmentation and easing the reporting burden for companies operating across multiple jurisdictions. Second, modularity – a building-block design allows preparers and users to apply the Framework independently or as a complement to existing standards, filling gaps where they exist. Third, interoperability – by aligning structurally with the TCFD and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), the Framework supports an integrated approach across people, climate and nature. Just as TCFD and TNFD transformed how businesses and investors understand climate- and nature-related risk, TISFD aims to do the same for people-related risk while also illuminating the interconnections between all three.

Why exchanges should help shape the framework for inequality and social-related financial disclosures

For the Framework to deliver on this promise, it must be practical, relevant and decision-useful for every stakeholder seeking to understand and manage how people-related issues affect their operations, markets, portfolios – and the people within them.

Stock exchanges are uniquely positioned to help get this right. As the institutions that set listing standards and shape disclosure practice for companies worldwide, exchanges bring a vantage point that no other stakeholder group can replicate. We encourage all exchanges to participate in the consultation on Beta Version 0.1 of the TISFD, open until 31 July 2026 and accessible at www.tisfd.org.

By lending their expertise now, exchanges have an opportunity to help build a disclosure architecture that supports more resilient businesses, more stable economies and more sustainable growth for the years ahead.

Arunma Oteh is an academic at the University of Oxford and former World Bank Treasurer, as well as former Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria.