ISSB publishes summary of the IFRS Sustainability Symposium

Keywords: Mazars, Thailand, Sustainability Symposium, IFRS, ISSB 

10 May 2023

This symposium focused on the draft ISSB Standards, and on sustainability reporting issues and outlook more generally. The ISSB highlighted the following key takeaways from the discussions: 

• the content of the draft standards IFRS S1 – General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 – Climate-related Disclosures are currently being finalised, with the ISSB integrating all the changes decided upon during redeliberations into the final version of the standards. A formal ballot on these will take place in the near future; 
• IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 require entities to take account of the industry-based requirements set out by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). Even though SASB industry-specific standards will be ultimately incorporated into the ISSB’s framework and will apply across all jurisdictions, they will continue to be supported independently for several years in the interim; 
• global comparability of sustainability information is of paramount importance, hence the ISSB’s goal of establishing a “global baseline”; 
• the ISSB has provided guidance, support and transition reliefs in order to encourage and facilitate the adoption of IFRS sustainability standards across different jurisdictions; 
• the IFRS framework is evolving towards integrated reporting, via the IASB’s ongoing Management Commentary project and the key concepts of the Integrated Reporting Framework. The ISSB’s next consultation on its work plan will include a section on this topic.