Canada, Japan and Singapore are consulting on the introduction of sustainability-related disclosures in their respective regulatory frameworks through the adoption or other use of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards (ISSB Standards). Further jurisdictions—such as Australia and Malaysia—have recently closed similar consultations.
Jurisdictions including Brazil, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Turkey have already announced decisions to adopt or otherwise use the ISSB Standards.
ISSB Chair Emmanuel Faber said:
We welcome consultations by jurisdictions around the world including most recently in Canada, Japan and Singapore. The consultations demonstrate the momentum towards a global baseline of sustainability-related disclosures so that investors have access to high-quality, comparable information. We encourage stakeholders to engage proactively with these consultations, as the ISSB continues to work with jurisdictions on their journeys to adoption or other use of our Standards.
Consultations
Canada
The Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) has released its proposals for the first Canadian Sustainability Disclosure Standards. The proposed standards are based on the ISSB Standards with some brief extensions to transition reliefs.
The CSSB is proposing an effective date of January 2025, reflecting 'rising calls for globally consistent sustainability disclosure standards,' stating that a later effective date could leave demands for sustainability-related financial disclosure unmet for too long 'potentially affecting investment decisions and Canada’s attractiveness to foreign investors.'
The CSSB consultation is open until 10 June 2024.
Japan
The Sustainability Standards Board of Japan (SSBJ) has issued exposure drafts of sustainability disclosure standards to be applied in Japan. The SSBJ decided to 'incorporate all requirements' in IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 'and to add, when considered necessary, any jurisdiction-specific options the entity can choose to apply.'
The SSBJ consultation is open until 31 July 2024.
Singapore
The Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) is consulting the market on details of how the ISSB Standards are to be 'incorporated into its sustainability reporting rules for climate-related disclosures.' The proposals are for issuers to 'refer to both the ISSB’s IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 in preparing climate-related disclosures' from 2025.
As part of the proposals, SGX RegCo is consulting on a Guide to help issuers with their approach to implementation over time.
The proposals state that 'Separate public consultations will be conducted to implement IFRS S1 beyond climate-related disclosures' and that in the interim 'issuers are encouraged to report in accordance with the ISSB Standards beyond climate-related disclosures on a voluntary basis.'
The SGX RegCo consultation is open until 5 April 2024.
The IFRS Foundation has made publicly available a list of ongoing and completed jurisdictional consultations, for stakeholders’ awareness.
The IFRS Foundation is committed to supporting regulators on their journey to adopt the ISSB Standards and in February 2024 published the Preview of the Inaugural Jurisdictional Guide for the adoption or other use of ISSB Standards. The Preview sets out the features of jurisdictional approaches to adoption and aims to support transparency for capital markets, regulators and other stakeholders.
To learn more about jurisdictional progress towards the adoption or other use of the ISSB Standards, sign in or register for an ifrs.org account and select ‘IFRS Sustainability jurisdictional development’ from the follows and notifications dashboard.
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