Former vice-chair of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group’s (EFRAG) sustainability reporting board Kerstin Lopatta has joined climate accounting company Persefoni’s sustainability advisory board.
The ex-special liaison to the International Sustainability Standards Board will advise Persefoni’s board and executive team on three core areas: optimal climate disclosure standards; anticipated regulatory shifts; and how best to integrate sustainability reporting into corporate and investment management.
Software provider Persefoni helps companies including Citi, Virgin and Hitachi track and measure their business’ carbon emissions, as well as automate their financial disclosures. Lopatta brings her experience at EFRAG, where she was responsible for the inaugural set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards that underpin sustainability reporting rules in the European Union (EU).
A key part of Lopatta’s role will be to ensure that Persefoni’s solutions are tailored to customers that need to comply with EU disclosure regulations, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Co-founder and CEO, Kentaro Kawamori, said: “The EU remains at the forefront of the regulatory climate disclosure movement, and it is vital that Persefoni software enables our customers around the globe to seamlessly comply with the CSRD and operate in the region with confidence.”
Lopatta’s appointment comes hot on the heels of two other high-profile hires at Persefoni. Former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) acting chair and commissioner Allison Herren Lee joined the advisory board in May, while former SEC lawyer Emily Pierce joined the firm’s regulatory department in December last year.
Lopatta, a professor of financial accounting, auditing, and sustainability at the University of Hamburg, said: “I am thrilled to join the Persefoni Sustainability Advisory Board and work with such a talented team tackling the next evolution of carbon measurement and reporting.”
