Inequalities remain high and persistent. On a global level, just 10 percent of the world’s population own 75 percent of its wealth, while the poorest 50 percent own 2 percent, according to the World Inequality Report 2026. A third of the workforce worldwide, 1 billion people, earn less than the living wage, according to the Business Commission to Tackle Inequality (BCTI).
For businesses, which depend on people – workers, consumers and communities – not only to operate, but to grow, innovate and remain competitive, inequalities and wider social issues can translate into unpredictable operating environments, fragile supply chains and depressed productivity and consumer demand.
These dynamics undercut business resilience and performance, but they do not stop with individual businesses. They can accumulate and materialise at a market and societal level too. Where business and financial practices undermine human rights, and where declines in people’s well-being affect a growing share of society, inequalities widen, contributing to societal instability, conflict and political volatility, which in turn can disrupt markets, weaken economic growth and create risks to businesses and investors.
Understanding the risks arising from intensifying inequalities
Understanding and mitigating the risks arising from growing inequality is a necessity and an opportunity for businesses. As climate transition, geopolitical turbulence and technological change, including Artificial Intelligence, continue to destabilise markets and societies, businesses that understand their impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities relating to people will be better positioned. For example, secure, fairly compensated workforces tend to be more resilient and productive and supply chains free of forced labour are more reliable.
Yet many businesses and investors still lack consistent, comparable information on, or fail to take account of, how people-related impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities affect performance and long-term value creation.
TISFD Framework (Beta Version 0.1) is open for consultation
In collaboration with a wide group of stakeholders, including businesses, financial institutions, labour and civil society groups, the TISFD Framework is being developed to fill this gap and enable businesses and financial institutions to strengthen visibility and understanding of people-related issues and make more informed decisions on how to address them.
In late May, TISFD reached a significant milestone with the release of the TISFD Framework (Beta Version 0.1), which is now open for public consultation. The first version of the framework includes conceptual foundations, proposed general requirements, draft disclosure recommendations and areas for future development. Future editions will include recommendations on metrics and implementation guidance with the final version of the framework due for delivery in 2027.
Three key features of the framework define TISFD’s approach:
First, the TISFD Framework is designed to support greater harmonisation across the disclosure landscape. It builds on existing standards including those from the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) to improve comparability. TISFD’s database of social disclosure frameworks has identified more than 2,000 individual requirements globally and includes more than unique 300 metrics. By supporting greater convergence and reducing fragmentation across reporting standards, the framework aims to reduce the reporting burden for business.
Second, the TISFD Framework adopts a building block approach that allows the framework to be used on its own, or as a complement to existing standards and practices, helping businesses to identify blind spots and build a fuller picture of people-related issues, without duplicating effort.
Third, aligning with the work of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), the TISFD Framework recognises the deep interconnectedness of people, nature and climate-related issues and supports combined analysis of these topics, while encouraging their integrated management and disclosure.
Help to shape the TISFD Framework
We want to ensure that the TISFD Framework provides clear, usable guidance that businesses and investors can apply in their day-to-day work – which is why we are inviting stakeholders to participate in a consultation via an interactive online platform, accessed through the TISFD website (tifsd.org). Feedback on the first draft is invited before 31 July.
And if you want to get ahead of the curve as people-related issues rise up the business and investor agenda and prepare for future market adoption of the TISFD Framework, businesses are being invited to join our practice groups and conduct pilot testing on the framework. Please get in touch if you want to learn more about the opportunities to engage in our work and join a growing number of organisations committed to building stronger, more resilient societies and economies.
