The consultation paper requests feedback on the most important questions, e.g. the potential scope and timeline of the adoption, potential transition reliefs, and questions around the assurance of sustainability information.

The ACSR proposes a staggered approach to adoption of, firstly, the ISSB standards with reliefs – staggered by groups of market participants and standard – from 2025-2028, and then full ISSB standards, staggered by groups of market participants from 2027-2029.

The ISSB standards would only be a part of the proposed so-called National Sustainability Reporting Framework (NSRF), which has the following objectives:

• Improvement of the availability of reliable, comparable and decision-useful information on material sustainability risks and opportunities of companies by using the ISSB Standards as the baseline standard;
• Enabling the use of other complementary reporting frameworks, for example the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards or industry-based standards issued by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), to meet the information needs of different stakeholders; and
• Supporting the availability and the flow of sustainability information across the supply chain.

As a first step, the ACSR now consults on:

• a) the use and application of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, including the required transition reliefs;
• b) the approach in relation to a sustainability assurance framework; and
• c) enablers and/or support required for a) and b).

The comment period ends on 21 March 2024. To access the consultation paper on the SC Malaysia website, please click here.