IFRS Foundation Opens New ISSB Seat in Geneva, Approves Five-Year Funding Plan

The IFRS Foundation Trustees have approved a five-year operating and financing plan for both the International Accounting Standards Board and the International Sustainability Standards Board, alongside opening a new ISSB office in Geneva during 2027 to serve as the board's seat. The Trustees have also published proposed constitutional amendments, open for comment until 16 November 2026, that would reduce both boards to 10 members each from 2028. More than 45 jurisdictions currently use ISSB Standards, with companies in 18 jurisdictions expected to be issuing reports under them by 2027.

 

Why the ISSB's Funding Timeline Matters Given Its Youth

 

The plan states that funding secured for the ISSB, combined with existing funding agreements and earned revenue, provides resourcing through 2031, at which point the board is expected to transition toward "a more durable, long-term funding model" as adoption of its standards matures. That framing is notable because it explicitly treats the ISSB's current funding as transitional rather than settled, a reasonable position given the board was only created in 2021 and has relied substantially on seed funding tied to specific locations, including Beijing, Frankfurt, Montreal and Tokyo, to build out its multi-location presence and support jurisdictions implementing the standards for the first time.

That distinction between the ISSB's current funding arrangement and the IASB's more established position matters considerably: the IASB, having operated for decades under widely adopted accounting standards, can draw on a broader, more diversified funding base including licensing revenue and contributions from adopting jurisdictions and capital market participants who directly benefit from the standards. The ISSB, by contrast, is still in the process of building that same durable funding infrastructure, meaning its 2031 transition point represents a genuine institutional maturity milestone the organisation is actively working toward rather than an already-achieved funding stability comparable to its older sibling board.

 

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Why Geneva Specifically Was Chosen as the ISSB's New Seat

 

ISSB Chair Emmanuel Faber described Geneva as "a major international hub for sustainable finance and a unique centre for multilateral cooperation," framing the choice as a natural fit for the board's institutional positioning rather than simply a geographic expansion decision. That characterisation is significant given Geneva's existing concentration of international governance bodies and its established role in multilateral diplomatic and financial coordination, a positioning that could give the ISSB more direct proximity to other international regulatory and standard-setting conversations than its existing office locations in Beijing, Frankfurt, Montreal and Tokyo, each of which appears more oriented toward serving specific regional adoption and capacity-building needs rather than functioning as a global multilateral hub.

Notably, the Frankfurt office will continue serving as the ISSB's EU engagement hub even after Geneva becomes the board's formal seat, indicating this is an expansion and reorganisation of the multi-location model rather than a consolidation that would reduce the board's existing regional presence.

 

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What Reducing Board Size Reveals About the Efficiency-Diversity Tension

 

The proposed constitutional amendments would reduce both the IASB and ISSB from their current membership levels to 10 members each starting in 2028, a change the Trustees frame alongside a stated commitment to maintaining "geographically diverse and balanced board memberships as well as appropriate diversity of professional backgrounds, skills and perspectives." That pairing highlights a genuine tension inherent in the decision: smaller boards are typically more efficient for reaching consensus and making decisions, but they also mean fewer total seats available to represent the wide range of jurisdictions, professional backgrounds and perspectives international standard-setting bodies typically aim to reflect.

Whether a 10-member board can maintain the geographic and professional diversity the Trustees say they intend to preserve, while covering both established capital markets with decades of accounting standard experience and the many emerging market jurisdictions now newly adopting ISSB sustainability standards for the first time, is likely to be tested in practice once the reduced boards take effect in 2028, particularly for the ISSB given how recently many of its adopting jurisdictions have joined.

 

What Comes Next

 

Today's announcements follow the appointment of Steven Maijoor as the incoming Chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, Sam Woods as Chair of the IASB, and Laura Forzani as incoming Managing Director of the IFRS Foundation, a new leadership team that will be responsible for executing this five-year plan alongside existing ISSB leadership. IASB Vice-Chair and Acting Chair Linda Mezon Hutter noted the plan provides clarity on available resources as the board plans its work "under a new Chair," language suggesting further leadership transition details may follow. Whether the ISSB successfully reaches the funding maturity milestone targeted for 2031, and whether the reduced 10-member board structure proves capable of maintaining the geographic and professional diversity the Trustees have committed to preserving as ISSB Standards continue expanding across new adopting jurisdictions, will determine how smoothly this restructuring supports the Foundation's stated goal of sustained, high-quality standard-setting capability over the coming five years.

 

Source: IFRS