ISSB proposes comprehensive review of priority SASB Standards and targeted amendments to others

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has today published two exposure drafts proposing amendments to the SASB Standards and consequential amendments to the Industry-based Guidance on Implementing IFRS S2.

The proposed amendments:

• present a comprehensive review of nine industries that were prioritised (all eight industries in the Extractives & Minerals Processing sector and the Processed Foods industry);
• align some metrics in a further 41 industries for topics such as Water Management and Workforce Health & Safety; and
• propose updates to Industry-based Guidance on Implementing IFRS S2 (affecting the nine prioritised industries and 37 of the 41 industries) to maintain alignment with climate-related content in the SASB Standards.

The ISSB included these enhancements in its 2024–2026 work plan to provide timely support to companies applying IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards (ISSB Standards) and to enhance the decision-usefulness of information provided to investors. This work will support implementation of the ISSB Standards, IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures and will also benefit the many companies that apply the SASB Standards on a voluntary basis.  

These proposals present the first opportunity for global stakeholders of the IFRS Foundation to provide comprehensive input on the cost-effectiveness and decision-usefulness of the SASB Standards. Stakeholders will also have the opportunity to comment on metrics for nature-, climate- and human capital-related topics appearing in several industries. These include metrics associated with Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Energy Management, Water Management, Labour Practices and Workforce Health & Safety. The questions asked and the accompanying survey will enable stakeholders to focus on the areas of the consultation of most interest to them.

Sue Lloyd, ISSB Vice-Chair, said:

SASB Standards are widely used voluntarily and are an important source of industry-based guidance for those using the ISSB Standards. This comprehensive review for nine industries further aligns the language and concepts in the SASB Standards with the ISSB Standards. For our stakeholders, this is the first noteworthy opportunity to weigh in comprehensively on the content of the SASB Standards in the context of the ISSB Standards.

We look forward to receiving feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders around the world including investors, preparers, regulators and auditors during our extended 150-day comment period.

Engagement and interoperability

The enhancements have been informed by engagement with stakeholders including investors, preparers and subject-matter experts from various jurisdictions, combined with frequent engagements with the Global Reporting Initiative, EFRAG and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. In developing these exposure drafts, special attention was paid to interoperability and improved alignment with these other standards and frameworks and to the international applicability of the SASB Standards.

Consultation process

To ease the burden of review and comment, an online survey has been set up for soliciting comments, which allows stakeholders to choose to provide feedback on all of the proposals or just on the parts most relevant to them. Supplementary reference materials have also been made available to facilitate stakeholder review, such as a version of Exposure Draft Proposed Amendments to the SASB Standards without marked-up changes. The ISSB is collaborating with partners to ensure timely translation of the exposure drafts.

These exposure drafts are open for comment until 30 November 2025.

Future plans

The ISSB intends to finalise the enhancements after having analysed stakeholder feedback on the exposure drafts. The ISSB aims to issue the enhancements in 2026, subject to stakeholder feedback.

Before the end of 2025, the ISSB will publish exposure drafts of proposed enhancements for three further SASB Standards: Electric Utilities & Power Generators and two SASB Standards in the Food & Beverage sector. Later this year, the ISSB will consider a further set of industries to prioritise for enhancements.

Supplementary information

Relevance of SASB Standards to ISSB Standards

The SASB Standards are a complete set of industry-specific disclosure guidance on sustainability-related risks and opportunities covering 77 industries. Companies are required to ‘refer to and consider the applicability of’ the SASB Standards when applying ISSB Standards. They are particularly helpful because they are designed to enable a company:

1. to identify sustainability-related risks and opportunities applicable to its business activities and operations and disclose information about them in a cost-effective way and
2. to provide primary users of general-purpose financial reports with material information that is decision-useful and comparable with the information provided by peers.

List of priority SASB Standards subject to proposed amendments following a comprehensive review:

Eight standards in the Extractives sector:

• the Coal Operations SASB Standard;
• the Construction Materials SASB Standard;
• the Iron & Steel Producers SASB Standard;
• the Metals & Mining SASB Standard;
• the Oil & Gas – Exploration & Production SASB Standard;
• the Oil & Gas – Midstream SASB Standard;
• the Oil & Gas – Refining & Marketing SASB Standard; and
• the Oil & Gas – Services SASB Standard;  

and

• the Processed Foods SASB Standard from the Food & Beverage sector