The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) has appointed Michael Bloomberg as chair and Mary Schapiro as vice-chair of its board.

Bloomberg is the founder of the homonymous media organisation and former mayor of New York. Schapiro served as chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission until December 2012, being the first woman at the helm of the regulator.

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SASB said its previous and first chairman and professor at Harvard Business School Robert Eccles will continue as a member of the board, focusing on building relationships with other sustainability reporting organisations, such as the International Integrated Reporting Council.

"Now that we’ve begun publicly issuing standards, the next challenge is encouraging adoption and use of the standards by corporations and investors," Eccles said.

He added that Bloomberg and Schapiro are "the perfect leaders" for SASB’s next step given their high profile and influence over the capital markets.

SASB founder and chief executive Jean Rogers said these appointments show there is "growing market demand and support for SASB standards".

Schapiro expressed satisfaction over her appointment and said: "Markets work best when they offer investors access to material information that supports informed decisions."

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The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board