IFRS S2 · Amendments to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosures
The IFRS S2 amendments: four greenhouse gas changes from 2027
On 11 December 2025 the ISSB issued targeted amendments to the greenhouse gas requirements in IFRS S2, in response to problems companies met when they started applying it.
They apply to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, and they are already in the text of UK SRS S2.
Why
Reliefs for problems found in the first reports
The ISSB said the amendments respond to “specific application challenges that were identified as companies started to apply the Standard” (IFRS Foundation).
They followed a consultation earlier in 2025 and discussions in the Transition Implementation Group, the ISSB’s forum for implementation questions.
The standard’s own history page says they aimed to reduce complexity, the risk of duplicative reporting and cost “while not significantly reducing the usefulness of information” (IFRS S2 standard history).
Three of the four changes are reliefs; the fourth, a classification freedom, comes with a new duty to explain the choice.
The four changes
What changed, paragraph by paragraph
| Change | Before | After | Paragraphs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Category 15 limited to financed emissions | Category 15 (investments) measured in full within Scope 3 | An entity may limit Category 15 to financed emissions — loans, project finance, bonds, equity, undrawn commitments and assets under management — and may exclude derivatives; it explains what it treated as a derivative and which activities it excluded | ¶¶29A–29B |
| Category 15 total and subtotal | No separate split | If Category 15 is included in Scope 3, disclose the Category 15 total and the financed-emissions subtotal within it | ¶29C |
| Industry classification for financed emissions | Banks and insurers disaggregated by the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) | Any industry-classification system that shows exposure to transition risk; a commonly used system is prioritised; the system and the reason are disclosed | ¶¶B62A, B63A |
| GHG Protocol jurisdictional relief | Relief where a jurisdiction or exchange required a different method | Clarified to apply where the requirement covers the entity “in whole or in part”, for that part and for as long as it applies | ¶29(a)(ii), B24 |
| Global warming potentials | Latest IPCC 100-year values, without exception | A jurisdiction or exchange may require different values for all or part of the entity, for as long as the requirement applies | ¶¶B21–B22 |
Paragraph B25 keeps an important limit: a jurisdiction that requires only part of the emissions — for example Scope 1 and 2 — does not exempt the entity from disclosing Scope 1, 2 and 3 for the whole entity.
The same day, the ISSB made consequential amendments to align the financed-emissions metrics in three SASB Standards with the amended IFRS S2.
Category 15
Category 15: what a financial institution may leave out
Category 15 of the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard covers investments, and for a bank, insurer or asset manager it can reach well beyond the loans and investments on its balance sheet.
The Basis for Conclusions names two examples of other Category 15 emissions: facilitated emissions from investment banking and insurance-associated emissions from underwriting.
Under ¶29A an entity may leave those out and report financed emissions only, and it may exclude emissions attributable to derivatives.
In exchange, ¶29B requires it to explain what it treated as a derivative and to describe the financial activities it excluded.
The detailed financed-emissions requirements for asset managers, banks and insurers are on Scope 3 and financed emissions.
“An entity is permitted to limit what it includes in its measure of Scope 3 Category 15 greenhouse gas emissions to only its financed emissions.”
IFRS S2 ¶29A (December 2025); financed emissions are those attributed to loans and investments, including assets under management.
Transition
Comparatives, restated unless impracticable
An entity that already applied IFRS S2 adjusts its comparative information in the first year it applies the amendments, unless that is impracticable (¶C6).
An entity applying IFRS S2 for the first time from 2027 meets the amended text directly, with the usual first-year reliefs, including no Scope 3 under ¶C4(b), which the amendments updated to refer to the new financed-emissions paragraphs.
Every relief and date is on effective date and reliefs.
- 1
Changed measurement under a jurisdictional relief
Adjust the prior year as if the change had been made then (¶C6(a)).
- 2
Category 15 included in Scope 3
Give the prior-year Category 15 total and financed subtotal (¶C6(b)).
- 3
New industry-classification system
Re-present the prior year on the new system (¶C6(c)).
In the UK
Already in UK SRS S2, with one UK addition
UK SRS S2 was issued on 25 February 2026, after the amendments, and its text already contains ¶¶29A–29C, the global warming potential relief in ¶¶B21–B22 and the classification paragraphs B62A and B63A (UK SRS S2).
The UK had proposed removing the GICS requirement itself, and withdrew that proposal because the ISSB made the change.
The UK added one stricter paragraph, ¶B59A: where it is impracticable to estimate financed emissions for the same period as the financial statements, the entity must explain why (Annex A).
A UK listed company therefore meets the amended requirements from its first UK SRS period, on the FCA’s comply-or-explain basis, and every UK difference is on UK SRS amendments.
The ISSB’s proposed taxonomy update tags the amended disclosures for digital reporting and, in the Foundation’s words, “neither introduces new requirements nor affects a company’s compliance” (IFRS Foundation).
Frequently asked
The IFRS S2 amendments, answered
What are the December 2025 amendments to IFRS S2?
Targeted amendments to the greenhouse gas requirements, issued on 11 December 2025.
They let an entity limit Category 15 Scope 3 emissions to financed emissions, permit classification systems other than GICS for disaggregating financed emissions, clarify that the jurisdictional relief from the GHG Protocol is available when only part of the entity is required to use another method, and add a jurisdictional relief from using the latest IPCC global warming potential values.
When do the IFRS S2 amendments take effect?
For annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 (IFRS S2 ¶C1B).
Earlier application is permitted, and an entity that applies them early must disclose that it has done so.
Are the December 2025 amendments in UK SRS S2?
Yes.
UK SRS S2 was issued on 25 February 2026 and already contains the amended text, including paragraphs 29A–29C, the global warming potential relief in B21–B22 and the classification-system paragraphs B62A and B63A.
The UK had itself proposed removing the GICS requirement and withdrew that proposal because the ISSB made the change.
Does IFRS S2 require insurance-associated or facilitated emissions?
Not if the entity applies the Category 15 limitation.
Paragraph 29A permits an entity to limit Category 15 to financed emissions — emissions attributed to loans and investments, including assets under management — and the Basis for Conclusions gives facilitated emissions from investment banking and insurance-associated emissions as examples of other Category 15 emissions that can then be left out.
An entity using the limitation explains what it treated as a derivative and which activities it excluded (¶29B).
Do companies have to restate prior-year figures for the amendments?
An entity that previously applied IFRS S2 adjusts the comparative information for the preceding period in its first year under the amendments, unless that is impracticable (¶C6): for a change of measurement under the jurisdictional reliefs, for the Category 15 total and financed subtotal, and for a change of industry-classification system.
Do the amendments reduce what IFRS S2 requires?
They are reliefs and clarifications.
The ISSB said they aim to reduce complexity, duplicative reporting and cost without significantly reducing the usefulness of the information.
One addition runs the other way: an entity that includes Category 15 emissions must now disclose the total and the financed-emissions subtotal within it (¶29C).
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.
- IFRS FoundationISSB issues targeted amendments to IFRS S2 to support implementation (11 December 2025)
The four changes; effective for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027; consequential amendments to three SASB Standards.
- IFRS FoundationAmendments to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosures — Amendments to IFRS S2 (PDF)
The amending document and its Basis for Conclusions.
- IFRS FoundationIFRS S2, full text (December 2025)
¶29(a)(ii), ¶¶29A–29C, B21–B25, B62–B63A, C1A–C1B, C4(b), C6 and the approval note.
- IFRS FoundationIFRS S2 — Navigator page and standard history
The amendments aimed to reduce complexity, duplicative reporting and cost without significantly reducing usefulness.
- IFRS FoundationISSB proposes update to the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy (29 July 2026)
Proposed Update 1 tags the amendments; it introduces no new requirement.
- IFRS FoundationWorld Standard-setters Conference 2026 — Application of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 (PDF)
The amendments respond to challenges informed by Transition Implementation Group discussions.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S2 (PDF)
Issued 25 February 2026 with ¶¶29A–29C, B21–B22, B62A and B63A already in the text; ¶B59A added by the UK.
- Department for Business and TradeConsultation response (PDF), Annex A
The B59A row: explain where financed emissions cannot be estimated for the same period.
- GHG ProtocolCorporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (2004)
The measurement basis in ¶29(a)(ii), and the method the jurisdictional relief departs from.
- GHG ProtocolCorporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard (2011)
Category 15, investments.
- PCAFGlobal GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard, Part A
A widely used financed-emissions method; IFRS S2 does not name it.
Continue reading
Read next
IFRS S2
The climate standard, paragraph by paragraph.
Scope 3 and financed emissions
The Scope 3 measurement framework and the financed-emissions duties.
Effective date and reliefs
When the amendments apply, and every first-year relief.
UK SRS S2
The UK climate standard, which already carries the amendments.
UK SRS amendments
Every UK difference from the IFRS texts.
IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards
The whole ISSB family.