Monday, December 4, 2023
WICI Symposium 2023

Information on WICI Symposium 2023 (Purpose of the Symposium)

In recent years, the requirements for investments and companies related to sustainability and ESG have reached a major turning point.

Following the UN's advocacy of the 10 principles of the Global Compact (1999) and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's advocacy of responsible investment principles for the financial industry (2006), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which until then had been characterized as assistance from developed countries to developing countries, were developed at the 2015 UN Summit and adopted as a set of principles for sustainable development. The MDGs were developed into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, which were adopted at the UN Summit in 2015. The recognition of the SDGs as goals for the entire world, including corporations, has led to an increased emphasis on "ESG investment" among investors, and increased demand for disclosure of related information. Since non-financial information plays a leading role in such disclosure, there has been an acceleration in the movement to set standards for sustainability information disclosure as the rules for such disclosure. In particular, in 2023, the ISSB published IFRS S1 and S2 as sustainability disclosure standards in June, and conducted a consultation on a proposed project to be undertaken from 2024. The European Commission adopted the European Sustainability Reporting Standard (ESRS) in July, and in Japan, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) has established a new section in securities reports and other documents that includes a section on "Sustainability-related Policies and Initiatives" and requires disclosure of information such as the ratio of female managers.

On the other hand, it is reported that the balance of ESG investments, which had been rapidly increasing, will decrease in 2022 both globally and in Japan, mainly due to the revision of definitions of ESG and sustainability investments. In addition, in the U.S., due to political considerations, a law restricting ESG investments will take effect in Florida in July 2023, effectively prohibiting state governments and related pension funds from incorporating factors such as climate change measures and increased diversity in their investment evaluations.

While the return to traditional shareholder capitalism, especially in the U.S., is, so to speak, an emphasis on shareholder value, the movement toward sustainability information disclosure to date has led companies to co-create value with their stakeholders that goes beyond shareholder value. The source of such value creation is nothing but intangibles, which is precisely what WICI Japan has been focusing on for many years.

At the WICI Symposium 2023, we will discuss the essence and source of the value that companies create, how companies can collaborate with various stakeholders to create something beyond shareholder value, and what role intangibles, which can be called the individuality of a company, can play, while taking into account global trends that are reaching a turning point. We will consider what the global standard should be in order to encourage integrated thinking management that puts this into practice.

We invite all companies aiming for sustainable growth, all people interested in future disclosure, all investors and consulting firms who want to support integrated thinking management and beneficial disclosure, and all researchers interested in this field to attend the WICI Symposium 2023 to be held on Monday, December 4, at the Okuma Auditorium, Waseda University, Tokyo. We look forward to seeing you at the WICI Symposium 2023, which will be held on December 4 (Mon.) at the Okuma Auditorium, Waseda University.

We plan to webcast the symposium again this year, so you will be able to watch the sessions and ask questions from anywhere in Japan and around the world. We look forward to seeing you at the symposium.

General Incorporated Association WICI Japan
Representative Director　Tetsuo Kitagawa