Since the IASB's deliberations in the project have already been completed, the shift in publication date must be attributed to an attempt to balance out comment letter periods on different consultations.

During the March 2021 IASB meeting, which discussed the comment letter period for the management commentary ED, the IASB noted the difficult balance and the constraints on respondents' capacities:

• The IASB has several consultation documents outstanding and plans to publish several more.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has placed constraints on stakeholder resources.
• Respondents to the ED may also develop responses to forthcoming proposals by the Trustees to change the Foundation’s Constitution to form an international sustainability reporting standards board within the existing governance structure of the IFRS Foundation and may find it difficult to respond to both documents at the same time.

Please click for the press release on the IASB website announcing the postponement.