The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) affirmed its global leadership in championing sustainability, receiving top honors from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for the third time for promoting sustainability reporting.
This recognition came 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) to report their contributions toward fulfilling national and global sustainable development goals.
The ISAR Honours recognize policy, institutional, or capacity-building initiatives that encourage and assist businesses in publishing their contributions to implementing 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,” SEC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino said.
He added, “The corporate sector has a significant role to play in ensuring we achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As a regulator, the SEC is committed to integrating sustainable practices within our organization and the rules and regulations we implement to contribute to the overall goal of reducing the impacts of climate change.”
The SEC also received the ISAR Honours in 2019 for mandating sustainability and SDG reporting for publicly listed companies (PLCs) and again in 2022 for conducting capacity-building programs to guide them in preparing their annual sustainability reports.
This year, UNCTAD recognized the commission for conducting the SEC Small and Medium Industries and Large Enterprises Embracing Sustainability (SMILEES) Roadshow, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through Accelerating Green and Climate Finance (ACGF), a project funded by the Government of Canada.
The SMILEES Roadshow is a multi-year initiative targeting crucial regions in the Philippines. It aims to build capacity and raise 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 various industries such as manufacturing, services, and retail, according to a 2020 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) report.
In the Philippines, 99.59 percent of businesses are micro, small and medium enterprises, according to the 2022 List of Establishments of the Philippine Statistics Authority.
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.
The initiative further helps the commission ensure the continuous collection of reliable, first-hand data at the local and national levels and supports reporting on the private sector’s contributions to the SDGs. This will guide the SEC in crafting policy decisions that drive sustainable development.
To date, the SEC has conducted three SMILEES Roadshows in Cebu, Davao, and Baguio City, with 601 participants. The roadshow will continue to Legazpi, Bacolod/Iloilo, and Cagayan de Oro in 2025, and Tarlac, Tacloban, and Zamboanga in 2026.
Before accepting this year's ISAR Honours, Aquino and Commissioner McJill Bryant T. Fernandez served as panelists for the 41st ISAR session, addressing regulators worldwide and sharing the commission’s best practices in implementing sustainability reporting guidelines.