Background

When the ISSB inherited the SASB standards, it found that a small subset of the standards incorporated references to specific jurisdictional laws and regulations that may be globally inapplicable, introduce regional bias, increase application costs, and decrease the comparability and decision-usefulness of the resulting disclosures. The ISSB has therefore developed a methodology for enhancing the international applicability of the SASB standards and SASB standards taxonomy updates without substantially altering the standards’ structure or intent. This methodology has been applied to the relevant SASB standards. The ISSB had previously consulted on the methodology in an exposure draft published in May 2023.

The SASB standards facilitate the implementation and application of IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information for preparers.

Changes

With the amendments published today, the ISSB intends to make the SASB standards more internationally applicable and GAAP-agnostic. The amendments remove and replace jurisdiction-specific references and definitions, without substantially altering industries, topics or metrics.

Effective date

To support those entities already using the SASB standards, the ISSB determined that these amendments will be effective for preparers with annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025, with early application permitted.

Further information

The following further information is available:

• Updated SASB Standards on the SASB website
• Basis for conclusions on the IFRS Foundation website
• Our UK Accounting Plus project page on the International applicability of the SASB standards