Influencing Inequality: TISFD Paper Aims to Enhance “Clarity and Coherence”
4 November 2025
The Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD) has released a discussion paper as part of its efforts to bring “clarity and coherence” to understanding and addressing inequality and social issues.
The recently published “Conceptual Foundations” discussion paper marks the start of the taskforce’s second phase following its formal establishment in 2024 after a long development process. Once finalised by the TISFD, the discussion paper will firmly set key terms, definitions and concepts to enable different stakeholders to speak the same language when discussing inequality and social issues.
A beta version of this disclosure framework will be released by TISFD in Spring 2026. In November and December, stakeholders will be able to review and provide input to the Conceptual Foundations discussion through a series of targeted engagement events being organised by the taskforce. The foundations will be updated based on the feedback received, while the TISFD will also undertake further research, including gathering evidence about the pathways by which businesses and financial institutions affect inequalities and the state of people and the materiality of those impacts to businesses and financial institutions.
“The release of the TISFD’s Conceptual Foundations discussion paper is an important step forward in establishing a global reporting framework for social factors, bringing the often overlooked ‘S’ into sharper focus within ESG reporting,” said Thomas Bolger, Senior Stewardship Analyst at Minerva Analytics. “By setting out clear definitions and concepts, the TISFD can bring much-needed clarity and coherence to how social and inequality-related issues are understood, reported on and addressed by investors and companies. For the framework to achieve broad adoption it will be important that it is interoperable and harmonised with existing standards such as those being developed by the ISSB whilst avoid duplication.”
The TISFD said that the discussion paper aims to combine and build on existing frameworks with the objective of clarifying the relationships between business, finance, people and inequality, including how these interact with climate and nature. The ‘conceptional foundations’, once established, will provide a basis from which to develop a disclosure framework for reporting inequality and social impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities. TISFD has previously stressed the importance of being interoperable with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and used experiences from both taskforces to create its scoping document launched last year.
The discussion paper states that system-level risks of inequality are “heightened in the face of climate change and nature loss, as well as that inequalities contribute to system-level risks that “threaten long-term economic growth and financial stability”.
“TISFD’s Conceptual Foundations, once finalised, will bring much needed clarity and coherence to how social and inequality related issues are understood and addressed,” said taskforce Co-Chair Sharan Burrow. “They should lay the foundations for a disclosure framework that will bring social and inequality issues to the heart of financial and business decision-making.”
Burrow is one of the TISFDs four co-chairs, with Peter Bakker, Arunma Oteh and Gabriela Romas the others holding the position. They are responsible for leading the taskforce’s Steering Committee, which counts 21 other members who were selected from an open call for applications.
The TISFD was established in September 2024 by a global multi-stakeholder group of businesses, financial institutions, civil society and labour organisations to advance the integration of inequality and social issues into sustainability and financial disclosures, recognising these topics as key to long-term value, resilience and macroeconomic stability. The taskforce was formed as result of the Taskforce on Inequality-related Financial Disclosures and Taskforce on Social-related Financial Disclosures opting to merge in August 2023.
The TISFD is developing the global framework for companies and financial institutions to heighten disclosures about impacts, dependencies, risks, and opportunities related to social issues – including inequality – within their public reports. The taskforce was created by a working group counting 25 organisations, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the International Labour Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Benchmarking Alliance.
Several finance leaders joined as members of the TISFD’s Steering Committee in January to guide the creation of a global framework, as reported by Minerva Analytics, including Senior executives from AXA, ING, Schneider Electric and Nippon Life Insurance, among others.
The committee leads the development of the comprehensive global framework for financial disclosures, which will be centred on people, including guidance on metrics, implementation strategies, and educational tools to support industry-wide adoption. The committee’s efforts aim to further TISFD’s mission to promote business and financial practices that create fairer and more resilient societies and economies.
Before the framework’s launch, financial institutions had called on TISFD in September 2024 to collaborate with ISSB’s human capital standard-setting project, rather than creating a separate framework, as reported by Minerva Analytics. A consultation held by TISFD on its proposed scope, mandate, governance structure, and materiality approach found that stakeholders wanted further collaboration between the TISFD with existing standard setters. That same month a report was issued containing feedback findings, which was followed by the TISFD publishing its full scoping paper, outlining its vision, scope, governance model, and indicative work plan.
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Last Updated: 4 November 2025