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.

The exposure drafts propose a globally applicable and comprehensive open-source methodology for valuing organisational social and environmental impact that is designed for incorporation into financial analysis and organisational planning and decision-making. The comment period ends on 8 April 2024.

The exposure drafts can be accessed on the VBA website:

• Environmental Methodology 1 — Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Social Methodology 1 — Adequate Wages

In January 2024, the Australian Government published an exposure draft legislation, in which all mentions of "sustainability" in the Australian equivalent of IFRS S1 are replaced with "climate". In addition, the scope of that equivalent standard would be reduced to climate-related financial disclosures. The draft legislation also contains a proposal to dilute IFRS S2 for financial institutions by only requiring them to consider the applicability of disclosures related to their financed emissions. 

The Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI) demands full alignment with the ISSB's standards as the baseline for Australia’s sustainability disclosure regime. In ASFI's view, this would help ensure "global interoperability" and streamlining of reporting requirements particularly for financial institutions that operate across multiple jurisdictions. They consider the AASB's decision to focus their standards on climate only to be an "unnecessary deviation" from the ISSB's standards. ASFI demands that IFRS S1 is adopted in its entirety "as soon as practicable" to ensure continued international alignment and to prepare the market for introduction of any future ISSB standards. The deviation from IFRS S2 is "a significant departure", according to ASFI, that could undermine "the value and efficacy" of the disclosures regime. 

According to Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) both IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 should be adopted as a baseline to ensure comparability and interoperability of data across regions. Modifications should only be made if they contribute to improved disclosures and do not detract from the global standard set by the ISSB's standards.

The Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) noted that modifications should be building on the baseline and cautioned against removing parts of the standards or restructuring them. In the IGCC's view, this creates an "unnecessary barrier" to producing quality and comparable disclosures. It also creates the risk of compromising the "integrity of the baseline" and adding complexity for both reporters and users operating across markets. 

Please see below for links to all three letters on the respective websites of the authors:

• ASFI
• PRI
• IGCC

Entities within the scope of the proposed guidelines would have to disclose information about environmental, social and governance topics. This includes information about climate change, biodiversity and ecosystems, circular economy, energy consumption, supply chain security, rural revitalisation, as well as prevention and detection of corruption and bribery. Entities would also have to disclose their Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions for the value chain. The list of topics indicates that entities would be required to apply the 'double materiality' principle.

The draft guidelines are open for comment until 29 February 2024. They are currently only available in Chinese.

As an example, the following can be accessed on the website of the Shanghai SSE:

• Announcement
• Draft guidelines

Note: On 12 April 2024, the Shanghai SSE published the final guideline, which took effect on 1 May 2024. The final guideline can be accessed here on the Shanghai SSE website.

EFRAG is undertaking preparatory work in anticipation of the IASB's request for information related to the post-implementation review of IFRS 16 Leases that is expected to commence in Q4 2024. In order to develop a preliminary list of application issues arising from applying IFRS 16, EFRAG has launched the survey to collect input about the overall assessment of and experience with IFRS 16. EFRAG is also interested in understanding whether there is new evidence suggesting the need for a change in the standard.

Please click to access the survey on the EFRAG website. Comments are requested by 22 April 2024.

A separate user survey will be published in the near future.

The updated agenda for the meeting can be found here.

The Board will discuss the following:

• Second comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs Standard
• Maintenance and consistent application
• PIR of IFRS 9
• PIR of IFRS 15
• Equity Method
• Amendments to classification and measurement
• Rate-regulated activities
• Power purchase agreements

The full agenda for the meeting can be found here. We will post any updates to the agenda, our comprehensive pre-meeting summaries, as well as observer notes from the meeting on this page as they become available.

The full agenda for the meeting can be found here. We will post any updates to the agenda, our comprehensive pre-meeting summaries, as well as observer notes from the meeting on this page as they become available.

However, the provisional agreement suggests that the European Commission publishes eight sector-specific reporting standards as soon as they are ready before the new deadline on 30 June 2026. 

The agreement now needs to be endorsed and formally adopted by both institutions.

For more information, please see the press release on the website of the Council of the EU.

The European Commission (EC) has tasked EFRAG to develop the digital XBRL taxonomy for the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) Set 1 and for the Article 8 disclosure requirements. The final XBRL taxonomy is expected to be submitted to the EC and the European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) in the summer of 2024. On the basis of this taxonomy, ESMA will develop the draft regulatory technical standards (RTSs) for tagging the sustainability reporting, including the tagging of the sustainability statement under ESRS. The EC will subsequently adopt the RTSs by way of a delegated act.

Please click to access the consultation documents via the press release on the EFRAG website.

Note: On 3 April 2024, ​EFRAG invites stakeholders to a hybrid outreach event on the draft XBRL Taxonomy. Please click for more information and registration on the EFRAG website.