to provide significant support to those seeking to disclose and has encouraged steadily increasing uptake. these initial steps greatly helped to define appropriate parameters, drive towards consistency, and give the public sector a running start in developing their own approaches. now it is time to build on that work. it will be useful to establish a globally consistent baseline standard for climate - related disclosures. globally consistent and comparable entity - level disclosures by non - financial companies, banks, insurers, and asset managers are increasingly important to market participants and financial authorities as a means of providing information needed to assess and manage risks. the g20 presidency, in developing its 2021 work program, asked the fsb to encourage more consistency in disclosure practices. as a start, the fsb surveyed what financial authorities across our membership were doing to promote disclosures. almost all our members have 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches already set requirements, guidance, or expectations or plan to do so. we found some heterogeneity in the approaches they were taking. some members prefer mandated disclosure while others would make it voluntary. there is also variation in the desired scope of disclosures. however, there is a trend towards an important baseline that focuses on one - way materiality — or the financial risk that climate change could have on a particular entity — based on the tcfd recommendations. the majority of our membership are already using the tcfd recommendations as a baseline for their own requirements or guidance. the international financial reporting standards foundation ( ifrs ), in consultation with other international organizations, will develop a set of standards, starting initially with climate and building upon these tcfd recommendations. as reflected in our december 2020 statement, the fsb supports ifrs's advancement of an international sustainability standards board to take this work quickly forward. 3 this work holds the promise of providing baseline standards that could inform or be built upon by national authorities as they develop their approaches to climate - related financial disclosure or broader sustainability disclosure. the initial focus of the ifrs will be on climate standards, while allowing for interoperability with individual jurisdictions'frameworks, that may go beyond climate - related impacts. consistency in one - way disclosures would provide a needed avenue for accurate and appropriate risk assessment and comparability to assess investment decisions. simultaneously, the ifrs standards are intended to provide flexibility for national authorities to build on the baseline. the " interoperability " feature will allow jurisdictions to address broader or jurisdiction - specific concerns in a

been talking about a much tougher world ‘ out there ’, with demanding shoppers on a ceaseless ‘ search for value ’ using new technology to search out bargains as well as to make purchases, driving an endless round of discounting across a wide range of consumer goods. it ’ s a fact that in value terms, the growth in household spending has been slowing since the middle of 2000. much of the strength in the volume of consumption reflects lower prices which have boosted consumers ’ spending power, for given incomes. since 1998 the price of durables has fallen by 14 %, while the price of other goods and services has continued to rise. the falls have been spread across a range of categories, including cars, clothing and sports goods, though the fall has been particularly marked in it / audio visual goods. so it is not surprising that spending on durables accounts for virtually all the growth in the volume of consumption - an average of over 8 per cent a year compared with around 2 per cent on other goods and services. the interesting questions are why this has happened, how far it will go and how long it will last. we know that the uk ’ s terms of trade have improved substantially since the mid 1990s, as the price of our imports has fallen more than the price of our exports, boosting domestic spending power. but this seems to be partly an it story, much of it concentrated in capital rather than consumer goods ; and lower prices may be related to exchange rate changes, which could be temporary. clearly new technology is playing an increasing part in helping consumers to search out bargains as well as to make purchases. while the total value of on - line sales remains relatively small, it is clearly growing very rapidly. comprehensive data is still hard to come by, but one source suggests that on - line sales have risen more than ten fold over the last four years. several recent reports have pointed to a sharp acceleration in the second half of last year, as the habit of e - shopping spreads. structural changes within the retail sector are also part of the story. high street retailers are facing stiff competition from the major supermarket groups across a wider range of products. what is driving these changes? no doubt there are many factors at work, but i find the agents ’ picture of an increasingly demanding consumer quite thought provoking. we live in a consumer society, and shopping, in one form or another, is what many people do much of the time ; helped by technology, why wouldn ’