IFRS S2 · the ISSB’s climate standard

IFRS S2 climate-related disclosures: the reference

IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures is the ISSB’s climate standard, issued in June 2023 and amended in December 2025.

The IFRS Foundation describes it as integrating and building on the TCFD recommendations and incorporating industry-based requirements derived from the SASB Standards.

This page reads the December 2025 text as a lookup — what each paragraph asks — and sets out where UK SRS S2 differs, which reliefs apply under which text, and what the FCA’s final rules add.

Which reliefs apply to you IFRS S2 vs UK SRS S2

The document

IFRS S2 as a document

IFRS S2 is set out in paragraphs 1–37 and Appendices A–C, and all paragraphs have equal authority.

The version is part of any citation: the December 2025 text carries the same body paragraph numbers as June 2023 but adds ¶¶29A–29C and changes the appendices.

UK SRS S2 is based on the December 2025 text, so it is the version to read if you report in the UK.

The complete paragraph-numbered text is free to read on the IFRS Foundation’s site; only the PDFs on the navigator sit behind registration.

The Industry-based Guidance on Implementing IFRS S2 is accompanying guidance, not part of the standard; what binds is the paragraphs that point to it.

IFRS S2 depends on IFRS S1 for materiality, connected information, the reporting entity and timing.

Source: IFRS S2, December 2025 text — “All paragraphs have equal authority. Paragraphs in bold type state the main principles.”
Paragraphs	Content
¶¶1–2	Objective
¶¶3–4	Scope
¶¶5–7	Governance
¶¶8–23	Strategy, including scenario analysis at ¶22
¶¶24–26	Risk management
¶¶27–37	Metrics and targets, with ¶¶29A–29C added in December 2025
Appendix A	Defined terms
Appendix B	Application guidance, ¶B1 onwards
Appendix C	Effective date and transition

¶¶2 and 10

Paragraph 10, all four limbs

¶2 sets the objective: information about climate-related risks and opportunities that could reasonably be expected to affect the entity’s cash flows, its access to finance or cost of capital over the short, medium or long term.

¶10 is where that becomes work, and it is routinely summarised as two limbs when it has four.

Limb (b) is a classification duty for every risk identified: physical, which may be acute or chronic, or transition, arising from policy, legal, technological, market or reputational change.

Limb (d) ties the time horizons to the entity’s own planning, so “long term” cannot be a number picked for the report.

¶11 qualifies the work: the entity uses all reasonable and supportable information available at the reporting date without undue cost or effort.

¶12 then sends it to the industry-based disclosure topics — with “shall refer to and consider” in IFRS S2 and “may” in UK SRS S2.

IFRS S2 ¶10 — the entity shall

(a) describe climate-related risks and opportunities that could reasonably be expected to affect its prospects;
(b) explain, for each risk, whether it is a physical risk or a transition risk;
(c) specify the time horizons — short, medium or long term — over which each effect could reasonably be expected to occur;
(d) explain how it defines short, medium and long term, and how those definitions link to its planning horizons for strategic decisions.

Source: IFRS S2 ¶10 (paraphrased limb by limb).

The four pillars

What each pillar asks, by paragraph

The four pillars are the TCFD’s.

The paragraphs beneath them are IFRS S2’s, and they ask for more than the TCFD did.

Sources: IFRS S2 ¶¶5–37; the UK text matches for these paragraphs apart from the Annex A verbs (UK SRS S2).
Pillar	Paragraphs	What the entity discloses
Governance	¶¶5–7	The body or individual responsible for oversight: how responsibilities sit in terms of reference, how skills are judged, how and how often it is informed, how it weighs trade-offs, and how it oversees targets — including whether performance metrics feed remuneration (¶6(a)(v), cross-referring to ¶29(g)). Then management’s role, delegation and controls (¶6(b)). ¶7 allows integrated governance disclosures.
Strategy	¶¶8–23	Risks and opportunities and their horizons (¶10); where they concentrate in the business model and value chain (¶13); effects on strategy and decision-making, including any transition plan the entity has (¶14); current and anticipated financial effects (¶¶15–21), as a single amount or a range; climate resilience through scenario analysis (¶22).
Risk management	¶¶24–26	The processes to identify, assess, prioritise and monitor climate-related risks and opportunities, including whether and how scenario analysis informs identification, and how they are integrated into overall risk management (¶25).
Metrics and targets	¶¶27–37	Three limbs (¶28): the seven cross-industry metric categories (¶¶29–31), industry-based metrics (¶32), and targets (¶¶33–37), including the gross target behind any net target and the planned use of carbon credits.

An entity that answers all seven ¶29 categories has satisfied the first of the three metrics limbs, not the pillar.

Quantitative financial-effects information may be omitted where effects are not separately identifiable or measurement uncertainty is too high (¶19), but the entity then explains why and gives qualitative information instead (¶21).

The climate transition plan page covers ¶14(a)(iv) and the FCA’s transition-plan statement.

¶29(a)

Greenhouse gases: absolute, gross, and in three scopes

¶29(a) requires absolute gross Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions for the period, in tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

The measurement basis is the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (2004), unless a jurisdictional authority or exchange requires another method — “in whole or in part”, since December 2025.

The entity discloses its approach, inputs and assumptions, and any changes to them (¶29(a)(iii)).

Scope 1 and 2 are disaggregated between the consolidated accounting group and other investees, such as joint ventures and unconsolidated subsidiaries (¶29(a)(iv)).

Scope 2 is reported location-based, with information about contractual instruments where that is needed to understand the figure (¶29(a)(v)); see Scope 2 emissions.

Scope 3 names the categories included, against the fifteen of the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard (¶29(a)(vi)(1)), and adds financed emissions for asset management, commercial banking and insurance activities (¶29(a)(vi)(2)).

A UK preparer using the government’s conversion factors names them as an input under ¶29(a)(iii).

The screen beside this text lets you sort the fifteen categories into what you could measure now; the category-by-category method is on Scope 3 emissions and the UK reliefs on UK SRS Scope 3 reporting.

Scope 3 screen · UK SRS S2 ¶29(a)(vi)

01 · upstream Purchased goods and services

02 · upstream Capital goods

03 · upstream Fuel- and energy-related activities

04 · upstream Upstream transportation and distribution

05 · upstream Waste generated in operations

06 · upstream Business travel

07 · upstream Employee commuting

08 · upstream Upstream leased assets

09 · downstream Downstream transportation and distribution

10 · downstream Processing of sold products

11 · downstream Use of sold products

12 · downstream End-of-life treatment of sold products

13 · downstream Downstream leased assets

14 · downstream Franchises

15 · downstream Investments (including financed emissions)

2 of 15 categories could go into the measure now (0 on supplier or activity data, 2 on estimates); 0 judged not relevant; 13 with no figure yet.

The disclosure names the categories included (1, 6), and says how far the measure rests on value-chain activity data and on verified inputs (¶B56).

Estimates are allowed: ¶B57 presumes Scope 3 can be estimated reliably from secondary data and industry averages, and ¶B47 prefers primary data only “with all else being equal”.

A relevant category with no figure is not a materiality judgement.

Under the FCA’s rules it is either covered by the one-year Scope 3 relief or named in the explanation, with the reason and any steps.

Category 15: an asset manager, bank or insurer adds financed-emissions information (¶29(a)(vi)(2)); ¶¶29A–29C allow Category 15 to be limited to financed emissions; and UK SRS S2 ¶B59A requires an explanation where financed emissions are impracticable to estimate for the same period.

Categories: GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard (2011), which UK SRS S2 ¶29(a)(vi)(1) names.

Your answers stay on this page.

¶29(b)–(g)

The other six cross-industry metrics, internal carbon price included

¶29 lists seven cross-industry metric categories; greenhouse gases are the first and the other six are short to state and long to answer.

The internal carbon price sits at ¶29(f), in metrics and targets — not in the strategy or scenario-analysis paragraphs where readers usually look.

It asks for an explanation of whether and how the entity applies a carbon price in decision-making, for example in investment decisions, transfer pricing and scenario analysis, and the price per tonne it uses.

Appendix A defines an internal carbon price as a price used to assess the financial implications of changes to investment, production and consumption patterns, covering shadow prices and internal fees.

¶29(g) mirrors the governance pillar: ¶6(a)(v) asks whether performance metrics feed remuneration, and the two answers must agree.

¶30 applies the reasonable-and-supportable-information test to (b)–(d), and ¶31 sends (b)–(g) to the application guidance at ¶¶B64–B65.

Source: IFRS S2 ¶29(b)–(g), ¶¶30–31.
Limb	What is disclosed
(b) transition risks	Amount and percentage of assets or business activities vulnerable to transition risks
(c) physical risks	Amount and percentage vulnerable to physical risks
(d) opportunities	Amount and percentage aligned with climate-related opportunities
(e) capital deployment	Capital expenditure, financing or investment deployed towards climate-related risks and opportunities
(f) internal carbon prices	Whether and how a carbon price is applied in decision-making; the price per tonne used
(g) remuneration	Whether and how climate is factored into executive remuneration; the percentage of executive remuneration linked to climate

¶¶33–37

Targets, gross behind every net, and carbon credits

¶33 asks for each climate-related target: the metric, the objective, the part of the entity covered, the period, the base period, any milestones, whether it is absolute or intensity-based, and how the latest international agreement on climate change informed it.

¶34 asks whether the target and its methodology were validated by a third party, and how the entity reviews and monitors it.

¶35 asks for performance against each target and an analysis of trends.

¶36 adds, for every greenhouse gas target, the gases and scopes covered, whether it is gross or net, whether a sectoral decarbonisation approach was used, and the planned use of carbon credits.

On credits the entity explains how far a net target relies on them, which scheme verifies them, whether they are nature-based or technological removals or reductions, and anything else needed to judge their credibility.

¶37 sends the entity to the cross-industry and industry-based metrics when choosing what to measure targets against — “shall” in both texts.

Target-setting itself is covered on science-based targets.

Two claims the text does not support

“IFRS S2 requires SBTi-validated targets.”

It asks only whether a third party validated the target (¶34) and whether a sectoral decarbonisation approach was used (¶36(d)).

“A net target is enough.”

A net target must be accompanied by its gross target (¶36(c)).

¶22 and Appendix B

Scenario analysis is required; its depth scales

¶22’s operative sentence: “The entity shall use climate-related scenario analysis to assess its climate resilience using an approach that is commensurate with the entity’s circumstances.”

¶22(a) asks for the results — the implications for strategy and business model, the significant areas of uncertainty, and the entity’s capacity to adjust or adapt.

¶22(b) asks how and when the analysis was done: its inputs, including which scenarios, their sources, whether they cover transition or physical risk, and whether one is aligned with the latest international agreement on climate change; its key assumptions; and the period in which it was carried out.

¶B8 says the approach must let the entity consider all reasonable and supportable information available without undue cost or effort, so what scales with the entity is the depth, not the obligation.

The UK text spells out the top of the scale: under UK SRS S2 ¶B17 an entity with high exposure and access to the skills and resources is required to apply a more advanced quantitative approach.

The NGFS scenarios and the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario are common reference sets, and neither is required.

Name the vintage of whichever you use: in the World Energy Outlook 2025 edition (12 November 2025), warming in the IEA’s net-zero scenario exceeds 1.5 °C around 2030 and peaks at around 1.65 °C about 2050, so it is no longer a limited-overshoot pathway.

Sources: IFRS S2 ¶22, ¶B8; UK SRS S2 ¶¶B15–B18.
Question	Answer in the text
Is scenario analysis required?	Yes — ¶22, “commensurate with the entity’s circumstances”.
Where is the proportionality?	Appendix B (IFRS S2 ¶B8; UK SRS S2 ¶¶B2–B6).
Can it be qualitative?	Yes, alone or with quantitative data (UK SRS S2 ¶B15) — unless the entity is highly exposed and has the resources (¶B17).
Every year?	The analysis may follow the strategic planning cycle; the resilience assessment is updated each period (UK SRS S2 ¶B18).
Which scenarios?	None named. The entity discloses which it used and why.

December 2025

The four targeted amendments, and the paragraphs they touched

On 11 December 2025 the ISSB issued Amendments to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosures, in response to problems companies met once they started applying the standard.

Three of the four are reliefs that bite only where a jurisdiction or exchange imposes something different.

Sources: Amendments to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosures; ISSB news, 11 December 2025; IFRS S2 ¶C1A.
Amendment	What it permits or requires	Paragraphs
Scope 3 Category 15 boundary	An entity may limit Category 15 to financed emissions — loans, project finance, bonds, equity investments and undrawn loan commitments — and exclude derivatives. It explains what it treats as a derivative and the activities excluded.	¶¶29A–29B added
Category 15 disclosure	Where Category 15 is included in Scope 3, disclose its total and the financed-emissions subtotal — whether or not the ¶29A limitation is used.	¶29C added
Industry classification beyond GICS	Financed emissions may be disaggregated using another classification, in a set order of preference, with the basis explained.	¶¶B62A, B63A added; B62(a), B63(a) amended
GHG Protocol jurisdictional relief	Available where only part of the entity must use another measurement method.	¶29(a)(ii), ¶B24 amended
Global warming potential values	A jurisdictional relief from IPCC 100-year values where a jurisdiction or exchange requires others; factors already in CO2e need not be recalculated.	¶¶B21–B22 amended

¶C1A lists the whole change: amended ¶¶29(a)(ii), 29(a)(vi)(2), B21–B22, B24, B28, B37, B59, B62(a), B63(a) and C4(b); added ¶¶29A–29C, B62A, B63A, C1B and C6.

¶C1B applies them for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, with earlier application permitted and disclosed.

¶C6 sets the comparatives rule for an entity already applying IFRS S2: in the first year of the amendments it adjusts prior-period figures, unless impracticable, as if a changed method, the ¶29C split and the chosen classification had applied.

The approval note records that the amendments were approved for issue by 11 of the 12 ISSB members, one being absent for the vote.

The same month the ISSB issued consequential amendments to three SASB Standards — asset management and custody, commercial banks and insurance — effective from the same date.

In the UK nothing waits for 2027: Annex A records that the amendments “have themselves been included in UK SRS S2”, so a UK SRS S2 user applies the amended text from its first period — and they remain the ISSB’s changes, not UK ones.

¶¶12, 23, 32, 37

Industry-based guidance: two verbs in the same paragraph

The Industry-based Guidance is derived from the SASB Standards, which the ISSB owns.

The guidance itself does not bind; the paragraphs that point to it do.

Under IFRS S2 an entity must disclose industry-based metrics and must consider the guidance when choosing them; it may conclude a topic does not apply, but it cannot skip the exercise.

Under UK SRS S2 the duty to disclose industry-based metrics (¶32) is untouched; only the duty to consult the guidance softened, at three paragraphs.

So UK SRS S2 is not a softer IFRS S2 across the board — the verb changed in three places, not four.

Every SASB paragraph in both texts is on the SASB Standards page.

Sources: IFRS S2; UK SRS S2; Annex A.
Paragraph	IFRS S2	UK SRS S2
¶12 — identifying risks	shall refer to and consider	may refer to and consider
¶23 — strategy metrics	shall, for both kinds	shall (cross-industry categories); may (industry-based metrics)
¶32 — metrics	shall disclose; shall consider the Guidance	shall disclose; may consider the Guidance
¶37 — targets	shall refer to and consider	shall — the draft’s “may” was reverted

Three texts

Which reliefs apply, under which text, in which year

The same reliefs read three ways depending on whether you apply IFRS S2, UK SRS S2 voluntarily, or UK SRS S2 under the FCA’s listing rules.

In IFRS S2, both the Scope 3 relief and the GHG-method relief last for the first annual reporting period only (¶C4).

In UK SRS S2 the method relief keeps that limit (¶C3), but the Scope 3 relief has none (¶C4) — for a voluntary reporter it is indefinite until law or regulation closes it under ¶C6.

The FCA did exactly that for listed companies: PS26/19 ¶3.14 allows one year’s non-disclosure of Scope 3 from initial application, after which Scope 3 is on comply or explain (¶3.23).

A company using a relief states that it does so and needs give no further explanation while it runs (¶3.20).

The consultation, CP26/5, had proposed a mandatory S2 with Scope 3 outside it; the final rules put everything on comply or explain.

The rules page, UK SRS and the FCA, has the made rule text, and UK SRS compliance what an explanation must contain.

Which reliefs are open?

Which text applies to you?

Which reporting year is it, counted from first application?

Answer both to see the reliefs.

Rules: IFRS S2 ¶¶C1B, C3, C4 (December 2025 text); UK SRS S2 ¶¶C1, C3–C6, B59A and UK SRS S1 ¶73A (DBT response, Annex A); FCA PS26/19 ¶¶3.14, 3.16, 3.20, 3.23.

Year 1 means the first period you apply the text (for the FCA rules, the period beginning on or after 1 January 2027).

Nothing is stored or sent.

Worked example

Laying out a Scope 1, 2 and 3 note, paragraph by paragraph

An invented UK manufacturing group with one 50% joint venture.

The figures are illustrative; the structure is the standard’s.

Illustrative figures. IFRS S2 ¶29 and Appendix C; UK SRS S2 ¶¶C4–C6.
Line	tCO2e	What requires it
Scope 1 — consolidated accounting group	8,200	¶29(a)(i)(1), split under ¶29(a)(iv)(1)
Scope 1 — other investees (the joint venture)	1,300	¶29(a)(iv)(2)
Scope 1 total	9,500	8,200 + 1,300
Scope 2, location-based — group	3,400	¶29(a)(v)
Scope 2, location-based — other investees	200	¶29(a)(iv)(2)
Scope 2 total	3,600	Plus contractual-instrument information where needed (¶29(a)(v))
Scope 3 — Cat. 1 purchased goods and services	41,000	¶29(a)(i)(3); category named under ¶29(a)(vi)(1)
Scope 3 — Cat. 4 upstream transportation	3,200	as above
Scope 3 — Cat. 6 business travel	450	as above
Scope 3 — Cat. 7 employee commuting	610	as above
Scope 3 — Cat. 11 use of sold products	18,700	as above
Scope 3 total	63,960	41,000 + 3,200 + 450 + 610 + 18,700

Across the three scopes the group measures 9,500 + 3,600 + 63,960 = 77,060 tCO2e, and 63,960 ÷ 77,060 = 83% of that is Scope 3.

IFRS S2 does not ask for the grand total, but the ratio is why the Scope 3 relief is the most consequential line in the transition appendix.

Under IFRS S2 the group may leave out the 63,960 in its first period only (¶C4(b)); under UK SRS S2 ¶C4 with no time limit, disclosing that it does so beside its compliance statement.

If it were listed in UKLR 6, the FCA’s rules would give it one year’s relief, and then comply or explain.

Four mistakes recur in a first note: one Scope 1 figure with the joint venture folded in; a market-based Scope 2 figure with no location-based one; Scope 3 “where material” with no categories named; and, under UK SRS S2, omitting Scope 3 without saying so beside the compliance statement.

The relief is free of a time limit, not of disclosure; the GHG Protocol and conversion factors pages cover the measurement underneath.

Annex A

IFRS S2 against UK SRS S2, every difference

Annex A lists every difference and says that anything it does not list is identical.

Read row by row, the UK changes are relaxations except one: ¶B59A, which makes an entity that cannot estimate financed emissions for the same period as its accounts explain why, how it measured, and its plan and timeline to align.

Scope 3 is untimed in the UK text, and that is a statement about the Standard, not about the law — for a listed company the FCA has now set the end date.

“C4” is two different paragraphs: IFRS S2 ¶C4 holds both first-year reliefs; UK SRS S2 ¶C4 holds only the Scope 3 relief.

Even the UK text carries the trap: UK SRS S2 ¶B41 still refers to “the transition relief described in paragraph C4(a)”, an unamended IFRS cross-reference to what UK SRS S2 numbers ¶C3.

A UK SRS S2 report is therefore not automatically an IFRS S2 report: an entity using the untimed relief beyond year one, or not considering the guidance, has departed from IFRS S2 while complying with the UK text.

Annex A carries no count, so neither does this page; the six the government consulted on in June 2025 were proposals, as UK SRS amendments explains, and UK SRS S1 and S2 sets the pair side by side.

For an asset-management reading of the final UK standards, Macfarlanes’ commentary is useful background, though not a source for any figure here.

Filter the differences

Search the S2 differences

Showing 9 of 9

Paragraph	What changed in UK SRS S2
¶¶12, 23, 32	Industry-based Guidance: “may refer to and consider”. ¶23 keeps “shall” for cross-industry metric categories; ¶32’s duty to disclose industry-based metrics is unchanged; ¶37 and ¶B65(d) keep “shall”.
¶B59A (added)	Where financed emissions cannot reliably be estimated for the same period as the financial statements: say why, the approach, inputs and assumptions used, and the plan, with a timeline, to align.
¶¶C1, C2 → ¶C2	Effective date removed; only the pairing with UK SRS S1 survives.
¶¶C1A, C1B, C6	Not needed: the December 2025 amendments were already in the text when UK SRS S2 was issued.
¶C3 → ¶C1	No comparatives in year one; same substance.
¶C4(a) → ¶C3	GHG measurement-method relief — kept its first-period limit.
¶C4(b) → ¶C4	Scope 3 relief — the reference to the first period removed; availability left to legislation or regulation.
¶C5	Same, plus: disclose use of the reliefs alongside the statement of compliance (UK SRS S1 ¶73A).
¶C6 (new UK meaning)	Where UK law requires the Standard, the ¶C3 and ¶C4 reliefs are subject to the Companies Act 2006, FCA rules or another UK regulator.

Source: DBT consultation response, Annex A (S2 rows); UK SRS S2 as issued.

The inheritance

IFRS S2 and the TCFD: consistent with, then more

The TCFD’s June 2017 Final Report set out four recommendations and eleven recommended disclosures; IFRS S2 keeps the structure.

The IFRS Foundation says the requirements are consistent with those recommendations, and names three additions: industry-based metrics, planned use of carbon credits and financed emissions.

Two other hardenings are visible in the text: Scope 3, which the TCFD asked for “if appropriate”, is required; and the GHG Protocol is fixed as the measurement basis.

Integrating climate risk into overall risk management is not an addition — it was already TCFD risk management disclosure (c).

The Task Force disbanded on 12 October 2023, having fulfilled its remit, and monitoring of companies’ climate disclosures passed to the IFRS Foundation from 2024.

In the UK, PS26/19 ¶1.10 says the new listing rules replace the existing TCFD-aligned disclosures; the mapping is on TCFD and UK SRS.

The IFRS Foundation’s June 2025 transition-plan guidance “does not add to or otherwise change the requirements in IFRS S2”.

The form to quote

IFRS S2 carries the TCFD’s four pillars and eleven recommended disclosures — the IFRS Foundation’s word is “consistent with” — and then asks for industry-based metrics, planned use of carbon credits and additional information on financed emissions.

Source: IFRS Foundation, ISSB and the TCFD

Around the world

Where IFRS S2-based reporting is actually required

More than 45 jurisdictions are using or taking steps towards the ISSB Standards (IFRS Foundation, 18 August 2026); requirements had come into effect in 19 as at 24 February 2026.

The directory shows how differently IFRS S2 has landed.

Sources: IFRS Foundation directory; readiness news, 24 February 2026. The Foundation owns its classifications, not the local law; legal dates are its summary.
Jurisdiction	Directory status	What applies, and the caveat
United Kingdom	Snapshot, 18 June 2026	UK SRS S2 issued 25 February 2026 for voluntary use; the FCA’s final rules (30 September 2026) put listed companies in five categories on comply or explain from 2027.
Australia	Profile, 12 June 2025	AASB S2 climate reporting in three cohorts from periods beginning 1 January 2025. AASB S2 has no industry-specific disclosure requirement — the ¶32 limb is missing.
Hong Kong SAR	Profile, 12 June 2025	HKEX IFRS S2-based climate requirements from 1 January 2025; mandatory for LargeCap issuers from 1 January 2026. Full adoption by 2028 is a roadmap target.
Japan	Profile, 16 July 2026	SSBJ Standards — functionally aligned, not IFRS S2 text — for Prime Market companies from periods ending March 2027 (¥3 trillion or more), March 2028 (¥1 trillion), March 2029 (¥500 billion).
Singapore	Profile	IFRS S2 and the climate parts of IFRS S1; beyond climate to be reviewed later.
Brazil	CVM, 29 May 2026	Obligation for public companies removed; comply-or-explain notice duty from 1 January 2027. An opt-in company applies the standards in full.
Canada	CSA, 23 April 2025	Work on a mandatory climate rule paused; the Canadian standards remain voluntary.

The EU is not in the directory: its CSRD and ESRS run a separate, double-materiality regime whose climate standard shares IFRS S2’s architecture without adopting its text.

For financial institutions, the finance reference covers IFRS S2 from the financed-emissions side.

How the UK moved from endorsed standard to listing rule is traced on the ISSB framework page.

The pairing

Why IFRS S2 cannot be applied without IFRS S1

IFRS S2 tells an entity what to disclose about climate; it does not, on its own, say how a sustainability disclosure is prepared.

That job belongs to IFRS S1, which carries the materiality test, the rules on connected information, location and timing, the hierarchy of sources of guidance, and the treatment of judgements, estimates and errors.

The two are tied at the point of application: an entity that applies either standard early must apply the other at the same time.

In practice that means every climate disclosure under IFRS S2 is judged against IFRS S1’s materiality test, and a statement of compliance is a statement about both.

IFRS S1 also supplies the climate-first relief: in the first year an entity may report on climate alone, which is IFRS S2’s content prepared under IFRS S1’s rules.

The UK keeps the pairing — UK SRS S2’s only surviving effective-date text pairs it with UK SRS S1 — so the same logic runs through UK SRS S1 and S2.

The general standard, paragraph by paragraph, is on IFRS S1.

Sources: IFRS S2; IFRS S1.
Question a climate report has to answer	Answered in
Is this information material?	IFRS S1 — the materiality test in its conceptual foundations (¶¶10–24)
How does it connect to the financial statements?	IFRS S1 — connected information
Where may it be published, and when?	IFRS S1 — general requirements (¶¶54–73)
What if there is no specific requirement?	IFRS S1 — sources of guidance (¶¶54–59)
How are estimates and errors handled?	IFRS S1 — judgements, uncertainties and errors (¶¶74–86)
What are the climate disclosures?	IFRS S2 — ¶¶5–37 and Appendix B

The record

IFRS S2, key facts with their dates

Each fact is cited in the section above it. Sources: IFRS S2; December 2025 amendments; Annex A; PS26/19.
	Fact
Issued by	The ISSB, June 2023
Effective (IFRS)	Annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2024; earlier application permitted
Amended	December 2025, Amendments to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosures — effective 1 January 2027; approved by 11 of 12 members
Structure	¶¶1–37 and Appendices A–C, all of equal authority; ¶¶29A–29C added in 2025
Pillars	Governance ¶¶5–7; strategy ¶¶8–23; risk management ¶¶24–26; metrics and targets ¶¶27–37
Cross-industry metrics	Seven categories at ¶29(a)–(g), greenhouse gases first
Measurement basis	GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (2004), subject to jurisdictional relief
Scope 3	Required; first-year relief only under IFRS S2 (¶C4(b))
Scenario analysis	Required for climate resilience (¶22); depth proportionate
UK version	UK SRS S2, published by DBT on 25 February 2026; differences in Annex A, which carries no count
UK listed companies	Comply or explain, periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027; one-year Scope 3 relief (PS26/19)

Check yourself

Seven claims about IFRS S2, true or false

Each statement is common in commentary, and each is settled by a paragraph you can open.

The fourth went from proposal to error on 30 September 2026, when the FCA’s Policy Statement put UK SRS S2 on comply or explain.

The fifth is the transition-plan trap: the standard asks about a plan you have, and the UK has no duty to have one — the government’s transition-plan consultation has no published response.

The whole UK position is on UK SRS S1 and UK SRS S2, and the government’s UK SRS guidance is the starting point at source; the S1 text it pairs with is the UK SRS S1 PDF.

IFRS S2 and UK SRS S2: true or false?

IFRS S2’s effective date, 1 January 2024, also applies to UK SRS S2.
Under UK SRS S2 ¶12, an entity must refer to and consider the Industry-based Guidance.
Paragraph C4 means the same thing in IFRS S2 and UK SRS S2.
Under the FCA’s final rules, UK SRS S2 becomes mandatory for listed companies in 2027.
IFRS S2 requires every entity that applies it to have a climate transition plan.
UK SRS S2 contains a financed-emissions duty that IFRS S2 does not.
An entity that uses no internal carbon price has nothing to disclose under ¶29(f).

0 of 7 answered.

Nothing you choose is stored or sent.

Frequently asked

IFRS S2, answered

What is IFRS S2?

IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures is the ISSB’s climate standard.

It requires an entity to disclose information about climate-related risks and opportunities that could reasonably be expected to affect its cash flows, access to finance or cost of capital over the short, medium or long term.

The ISSB issued it in June 2023 and amended its greenhouse gas requirements in December 2025.

It is set out in paragraphs 1–37 and Appendices A–C, all of equal authority.

What does IFRS S2 paragraph 10 require?

Four things.

The entity shall (a) describe the climate-related risks and opportunities that could reasonably be expected to affect its prospects; (b) say, for each risk, whether it is a physical or a transition risk; (c) specify over which time horizons — short, medium or long term — each effect could reasonably be expected to occur; and (d) explain how it defines short, medium and long term and how those definitions link to its own strategic planning horizons.

Is IFRS S2 mandatory in the UK?

Not as IFRS S2.

The UK uses UK SRS S2, published on 25 February 2026 for voluntary use.

Under the FCA’s final rules (PS26/19, 30 September 2026), companies listed in UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22 report against UK SRS S2 on a comply-or-explain basis for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, with a one-year Scope 3 relief.

UK SRS S2 is not mandatory under those rules.

When is IFRS S2 effective?

For annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2024, with earlier application permitted.

The December 2025 greenhouse gas amendments apply from periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, again with earlier application permitted and disclosed.

UK SRS S2 has no effective date.

What did the December 2025 amendments to IFRS S2 change?

Four targeted reliefs and clarifications to the greenhouse gas requirements: an entity may limit Scope 3 Category 15 to financed emissions and exclude derivatives (¶29A), with a new disclosure of the Category 15 total and its financed-emissions subtotal (¶29C); an industry classification other than GICS may be used for financed emissions, in a set order; the jurisdictional relief from the GHG Protocol applies where only part of the entity is required to use another method; and a jurisdictional relief from IPCC 100-year global warming potential values was added.

Does IFRS S2 require Scope 3 emissions?

Yes.

IFRS S2 ¶29(a)(i)(3) requires absolute gross Scope 3 emissions, and ¶29(a)(vi) requires the entity to say which of the fifteen GHG Protocol categories it included, plus financed emissions for asset management, commercial banking or insurance activities.

In the first annual reporting period only, ¶C4(b) lets an entity omit Scope 3.

UK SRS S2 ¶C4 carries the same relief with no time limit; the FCA’s rules limit it to one year for listed companies.

Does IFRS S2 require scenario analysis?

Yes. ¶22 says the entity shall use climate-related scenario analysis to assess its climate resilience using an approach commensurate with its circumstances.

The proportionality sits in Appendix B (¶B8 in IFRS S2), so the depth scales, not the obligation.

UK SRS S2 ¶B17 adds that an entity with high exposure and access to the necessary resources is required to apply a more advanced quantitative approach.

No named scenario set is required.

What does IFRS S2 say about an internal carbon price?

Paragraph 29(f) asks for an explanation of whether and how the entity applies a carbon price in decision-making — for example investment decisions, transfer pricing and scenario analysis — and the price per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions it uses.

Because the limb is framed “whether and how”, an entity that applies no internal carbon price still has something to disclose.

What is the difference between IFRS S2 and TCFD?

IFRS S2 carries the TCFD’s four pillars and eleven recommended disclosures — the IFRS Foundation’s word is “consistent with” — and then asks for more: industry-based metrics, planned use of carbon credits and additional information on financed emissions.

The TCFD disbanded on 12 October 2023, and the FCA’s final rules replace the existing TCFD-aligned listing rules.

What is the difference between IFRS S2 and UK SRS S2?

Annex A of the government response lists them, and anything it does not list is identical.

The industry-based guidance is “may” rather than “shall” at ¶¶12, 23 and 32; ¶B59A adds an explanation duty where financed emissions cannot be estimated for the same period as the accounts; the effective date is removed; the Scope 3 relief (¶C4) has no time limit; and ¶C6 subjects the reliefs to UK law.

The December 2025 ISSB amendments are already in the UK text.

Annex A carries no count.

Does IFRS S2 require a transition plan?

No. ¶14(a)(iv) asks for information about any climate-related transition plan the entity has, including key assumptions and dependencies. It does not require an entity to have one.

Under the FCA’s rules a UK listed company in UKLR 6, 16 or 22 states whether it has published a transition plan and where, or why not.

Is IFRS S2 the same as ISSB S2?

Yes.

The ISSB wrote the standard and the IFRS Foundation publishes it as one of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, so both names are used for the same document.

Which jurisdictions use IFRS S2?

More than 45 jurisdictions are using or taking steps towards the ISSB Standards (IFRS Foundation, 18 August 2026), and requirements had come into effect in 19 as at 24 February 2026.

Several, such as Australia and Singapore, adopted the climate requirements first.

Adoption is not the same as a mandate: Brazil’s securities regulator removed its obligation for public companies in May 2026.

What are the cross-industry metrics in IFRS S2?

Seven categories at ¶29: (a) greenhouse gas emissions, Scope 1, 2 and 3; (b) assets or business activities vulnerable to transition risks; (c) those vulnerable to physical risks; (d) those aligned with climate-related opportunities; (e) capital deployed towards climate-related risks and opportunities; (f) internal carbon prices; and (g) climate-linked executive remuneration.

Industry-based metrics (¶32) and targets (¶¶33–37) are separate limbs.

What are the four pillars of IFRS S2?

Governance (¶¶5–7), strategy (¶¶8–23), risk management (¶¶24–26), and metrics and targets (¶¶27–37).

They are the TCFD’s four recommendations, carried into the standard, with more detail beneath each.

Can IFRS S2 be used without IFRS S1?

No. IFRS S1 supplies the materiality test, connected information, location and timing, the sources of guidance, and the treatment of judgements and errors; IFRS S2 supplies the climate content.

An entity applying either early must apply the other at the same time.

IFRS S1’s climate-first relief lets an entity report only on climate in its first year, still under both standards.

Does IFRS S2 apply to private companies in the UK?

No UK rule requires it of private companies.

Any company may use UK SRS S2 voluntarily, and the FCA’s rules reach only listed companies in UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22.

No government document proposes a threshold or date for private companies.

Sources

Primary sources

Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.

Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.

Checked against 18 sources fromIFRS FoundationDepartment for Business and TradeFinancial Conduct AuthorityGHG ProtocolTCFDInternational Energy Agency

IFRS Foundation
IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures — full text, December 2025 version
Every paragraph quoted or cited on this page, read in the December 2025 text.
IFRS Foundation
IFRS S2 — Sustainability Standards Navigator page and standard history
“Integrates and builds on” the TCFD; the December 2025 amendments and the active projects.
IFRS Foundation
Amendments to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosures (PDF), December 2025
The amended text and its approval note: 11 of the 12 ISSB members.
IFRS Foundation
ISSB issues targeted amendments to IFRS S2 — 11 December 2025
Why the amendments were made, and the consequential SASB changes.
IFRS Foundation
International Sustainability Standards Board
Formation on 3 November 2021; IFRS S2 issued June 2023.
IFRS Foundation
ISSB and the TCFD
IFRS S2 is “consistent with” the TCFD’s four recommendations and eleven disclosures, and asks for more.
Department for Business and Trade
UK SRS S2 — the standard (PDF)
¶¶12, 22, 23, 32, 33–37, B17–B18, B59A and C1–C6 as issued on 25 February 2026.
Department for Business and Trade
Exposure drafts of UK SRS — consultation response, Annex A (PDF)
Every difference between IFRS S2 and UK SRS S2; anything not listed is identical. No count.
Financial Conduct Authority
PS26/19 (PDF), ¶¶3.12, 3.14, 3.16, 3.20, 3.23
UK SRS S2 on comply or explain for listed companies, with a one-year Scope 3 relief.
GHG Protocol
Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
The fifteen Scope 3 categories IFRS S2 measures against.
GHG Protocol
Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (2004)
The measurement basis named in IFRS S2 ¶29(a)(ii).
TCFD
Final Report, June 2017
The four recommendations and eleven disclosures, Figure 4, p. 14.
International Energy Agency
World Energy Outlook 2025 — Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario
A reference scenario, and its 2025 vintage overshoots 1.5 °C. Not a requirement.
NGFS
NGFS Scenarios Portal
A reference scenario set used by supervisors and preparers. Not a requirement.
IFRS Foundation
Use of IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards by jurisdiction
Profiles and snapshots.
IFRS Foundation
Jurisdictional readiness news, 24 February 2026
Requirements in effect in 19 jurisdictions.
IFRS Foundation
United Kingdom — jurisdictional snapshot (PDF)
The UK’s directory status.
DESNZ
Climate-related transition plan requirements — consultation
No UK duty to have a transition plan; the consultation has no published response.