IG 1 Materiality Assessment Implementation Guidance provides an illustrative materiality assessment process for entities and develops the concept of impact and financial materiality on examples, including how these concepts interact. It also contains FAQs on the double materiality assessment to provide practical implementation guidance on disclosing material impacts, risks and opportunities.

IG 2 Value Chain Implementation Guidance outlines the reporting requirements for value chain information, including the materiality assessment, policies and actions, and metrics and targets. It illustrates the reporting boundary for a group for sustainability reporting, including operational control in environmental standards. The IG also includes FAQs for further information and a 'value chain map' summarising the implications for each disclosure requirement across all ESRS.

IG 3 List of ESRS Datapoints includes all requirements in the complete first set of ESRS in an Excel format. The file contains additional information, such as the requirement types (quantitative or qualitative) or whether these are subject to transitional provisions. IG 3 has been published together with an explanatory note.

The EFRAG Secretariat has also published feedback statements illustrating how the feedback received during the consultation has been reflected in the final documents.

Access the press release on EFRAG’s website.

The guide is a tailored version of Sustainability Reporting—The Guide To Preparation to help SMEs determine, collect, and communicate sustainability-related information. It is based on the requirements of the ISSB standards because the ACCA expects that many of the sustainability-related information requests to SMEs are based on those standards.

The guide sets out the following eight stages of sustainability reporting for SMEs:

1. Allocating responsibility for sustainability reporting
2. Establishing the reporting landscape
3. Determining the material sustainability-related information to be reported
4. Determining the data requirements
5. Collecting the data
6. Reporting on the collected data
7. Implementing reporting
8. Verifying what is reported, and continual improvement

Access the guide on the ACCA’s website.

The updated guide provides a phased approach for implementing the Integrated Reporting (<IR>) Framework and is intended to help preparers understand how the ISSB standards can be considered in their reporting.

The guide suggests that preparers new to integrated reporting could begin by adopting the principles and concepts specified in the <IR> Framework over one, two or three reporting cycles. For experienced integrated reporters, the guide can help embed IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 disclosures in their reports and improve the comparability of those reports.

Access the press release and the guide on IR’s website.

There are some critical insights from the Stanford Graduate School of Business survey, the Hoover Institution Working Group on Corporate Governance, and the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University. In partnership with the MSCI Sustainability Institute, the survey asked leading institutional asset owners and managers about their methods of integrating ESG factors into investment decisions.

 The survey revealed that governance-related factors take precedence in the investment decisions of more than two-thirds of investors in Europe and North America, especially in the short term. Climate risk, however, gains prominence in the medium term, with 93% of investors acknowledging that climate-related issues will most likely impact investment performance in the coming two to five years.

Access the survey on The Hoover Institution’s website.

The ISSB Taxonomy will enable investors to search, extract and compare sustainability-related financial disclosures provided under the ISSB standards. The ISSB Taxonomy reflects IFRS S1, IFRS S2 and guidance accompanying the standards.

The ISSB Taxonomy is consistent with the IFRS Accounting Taxonomy so that entities can provide a holistic digital financial reporting package to investors. However, the ISSB Taxonomy can also be used with other digital taxonomies.

Access the press release on the IFRS Foundation website.

The podcast discusses the following:

• IFRS Advisory Council meeting
• International Forum of Accounting Standard Setters
• Commence research projects about risks and opportunities related to nature and human capital
• Launch of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy
• Forthcoming joint educational material with EFRAG on interoperability.

Access the press release on the IFRS Foundation website.

The research projects aim to determine the specific disclosures investors need to evaluate sustainability-related risks and opportunities in these sectors. As per the IFRS S1, entities are currently required to provide these disclosures with the help of sources of guidance (including the SASB standards).

As with the approach to the ISSB’s inaugural Standards, the ISSB will look at how it might build from relevant pre-existing initiatives. This includes those already under its purview—the SASB Standards and CDSB guidance—and, additionally, relevant aspects of the work of the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).

With the research projects, the ISSB will now undertake its standard-setting to provide more specific disclosure requirements and expand the global baseline of sustainability-related financial disclosures.

The ISSB has also decided not to begin a project related to integration in reporting at this time. However, the ISSB has agreed to monitor developments in this area closely and may consider including such a project in future agenda consultations. In the January 2024 joint IASB-ISSB meeting, the boards noted that they still support the Integrated Reporting Framework regardless of decisions made about their respective work plans.

Access the press release on the IFRS’s website.

The vote follows a political agreement between the Council of the EU and the EU Parliament in February 2024.

EU companies will still have to report as planned in line with general sustainability reporting standards adopted by the European Commission in July 2023. Later adoption of sector-specific standards for EU companies affects the extent of reporting, as the sector-specific part about companies’ particular impact on people and the planet in their area of activity will not be required before 2026.

The Parliament vote does not affect the reporting timelines as agreed under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). As a next step, the legal text needs to be formally approved by the Council of the European Union before becoming effective.

Access the press release on the European Parliament’s website.

The first episode covers the March 2024 TIG meeting and is hosted by ISSB Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd, ISSB member Veronika Pountcheva and ISSB staff member Dianora Aria de Marco. They discuss the purpose and the objectives of the TIG, the submissions to the TIG, and insights from TIG members.

Access the press release on the IFRS’s website.

Adopted by a 3-2 vote on March 6, 2024, following two years of public debate, the Climate Rules have gained significant attention, with over 24,000 comments received by the SEC from various stakeholders.

 Initially, nine cases challenging the Climate Rules were filed across various circuit courts and on March 19, 2024, the SEC requested these cases to be consolidated into a single venue. This request was granted, and all cases were transferred to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on March 21, 2024.

Critics argue that the SEC exceeded its statutory authority by enforcing regulations that should primarily protect against financial fraud, not promote social views. However, the SEC maintains that the rules fall within its authority and are supported by academic literature linking climate risks and firm fundamentals.

 The final rule requires registrants to provide comprehensive climate-related disclosures in their annual reports and registration statements, including those for IPOs, beginning with annual reports for the year ending December 31, 2025, for calendar-year-end large, accelerated filers. Depending on when the legal challenges are resolved, the mandatory compliance dates may be retained or delayed.

Access the order issuing stay and the final rule on climate-related disclosure on the SEC’s website.