Industry standards · now the ISSB’s
SASB Standards: who owns them, and how binding they are
The SASB Standards are the industry layer of the ISSB framework: 77 industries, each with disclosure topics and metrics written for investors.
Since August 2022 the ISSB has been responsible for them, after the Value Reporting Foundation — which SASB had joined in 2021 — consolidated into the IFRS Foundation.
How binding they are depends on the text: IFRS S1 says “shall” consider them; UK SRS S1 says “may”, and still requires you to say which you used.
Ownership
The chain of custody: SASB, the VRF, the ISSB
Two consolidations happened a year apart, and most summaries compress them into one with the wrong body named.
The IFRS Foundation’s release of 1 August 2022 announced “the completion of the consolidation of the Value Reporting Foundation (VRF) into the IFRS Foundation” — not SASB directly.
The same release named the outcome for SASB: “the ISSB, which now governs the SASB Standards, is embedding the industry-based approach of the SASB Standards into its standard-setting process.”
SASB had already merged into the VRF in 2021, so “SASB was absorbed by the IFRS Foundation in 2022” gets the outcome right and the mechanism wrong.
The Foundation’s current formulation is the safest sentence on the subject: “The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is responsible for the SASB Standards.
The ISSB is maintaining and enhancing the SASB Standards.”
Whether the old SASB Standards Board was “dissolved” is not stated in the owner’s words, so this page does not say it.
The CDSB took a parallel route on 31 January 2022; the whole consolidation is on the ISSB framework page.
- Before 2021Standards developed under an independent SASB Standards Board
- 2021SASB merges into the Value Reporting Foundation
- 31 Jan 2022CDSB consolidated into the IFRS Foundation
- 1 Aug 2022The VRF consolidates into the IFRS Foundation
The ISSB now governs the SASB Standards.
- May 2024The ISSB decides to retain SICS
- Dec 2025Version 2025-12 for three financial-sector standards
SICS
77 industries, 11 sectors — and two version stamps
The SICS industry list of 10 October 2025 says it plainly: “SICS covers 77 industries across 11 sectors, each with its own tailored set of SASB Standards.”
The ISSB decided in May 2024 to retain SICS as the organising structure rather than replace it.
The version stamp stopped being uniform in December 2025, when the ISSB issued consequential amendments to three financial-sector standards alongside its IFRS S2 greenhouse gas amendments.
Those three carry version 2025-12, effective two years after the rest: “current version 2023-12” is now true of 74 industries, not 77.
An enhancement project runs underneath: a July 2025 exposure draft, and a March 2026 draft covering agricultural products, meat, poultry and dairy, and electric utilities and power generators, which closed on 24 July 2026.
The proposed effective date is between 12 and 18 months after issuance, so what exists in draft is not what applies.
The standards themselves are in the SASB standards library on the IFRS Foundation’s host.
| Version | Industries | Effective for annual periods beginning on or after |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-12 | 74 of 77 | 1 January 2025 |
| 2025-12 | Asset Management & Custody Activities; Commercial Banks; Insurance | 1 January 2027 |
IFRS against UK SRS
Which paragraphs changed, and which did not
UK SRS softened the SASB references from “shall” to “may” at some paragraphs; it did not do so everywhere, and the paragraph decides what a preparer must do.
UK SRS S1 ¶55(a): “an entity may refer to and consider the applicability of the disclosure topics in the SASB Standards”; ¶58(a) does the same for metrics.
IFRS S1 ¶55(a) still says “shall”, so an entity claiming IFRS S1 compliance is answering a different question at that paragraph from one claiming UK SRS S1 compliance.
¶59(a) is the trap on the other side: it still requires the entity to identify the standards and guidance it applied, “including, if applicable, identifying the disclosure topics in the SASB Standards”.
In UK SRS S2 the change lands at ¶¶12, 23 and 32; ¶37 and ¶B65(d) keep “shall”, because the exposure draft’s “may” at ¶37 was reverted.
¶23 carries both verbs in one sentence: “shall” for cross-industry metric categories, “may” for industry-based metrics.
The lookup beside this text gives both texts for each paragraph, and the version stamp for your industry; the full differences are in Annex A.
Which verb, which paragraph?
Pick one to compare the two texts.
IFRS S1 ¶¶55(a), 58(a); UK SRS S1 ¶¶55(a), 58(a), 59(a); IFRS S2 and UK SRS S2 ¶¶12, 23, 32, 37, B65(d); DBT response, Annex A; IFRS Foundation, SASB Standards and SICS industry list.
Nothing is stored or sent.
The reason
Why the UK softened the wording, and why it may change back
The change was not made to remove SASB from UK SRS.
The government’s consultation said the concern was the evidentiary burden of “shall” in front of an assurance provider, not the substance of the SASB material.
It also said the government “will review this amendment following the conclusion of the ISSB’s project to enhance the SASB standards”.
That project has not concluded, so the UK wording is a position, not necessarily a permanent one.
Every UK change and its reasoning is on UK SRS amendments.
“Shall” “would not require entities to disclose information using the materials” but “could result in entities being required to prove – with evidence – how they have considered the materials when asked to do so by their assurance provider.”
DBT exposure-draft consultation ¶3.5; review promised at ¶3.7.
In a UK report
Referenced, not required — with one disclosure duty attached
No UK instrument mandates the SASB Standards on their own terms.
They reach a UK preparer through UK SRS S1 and S2’s references — permissive at the point of use, with the ¶59(a) duty to say what was used.
For companies listed in the five categories the FCA’s rules reach, that means from periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 a UK SRS report is made or explained under PS26/19, and the SASB references come with it.
The industry-based metrics duty at UK SRS S2 ¶32 is unchanged, so a climate report still needs industry metrics — the UK only freed the entity from having to consult the SASB-derived guidance to choose them.
The climate standard’s view of the same material is on IFRS S2 and UK SRS S2.
Cite the standards from the IFRS Foundation’s SASB page; the old sasb.org address redirects and the navigator requires registration.
In practice
Using SASB in a UK SRS report, step by step
| Step | What you do | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Find your industry | Locate the company’s industry in the SICS list; a diversified group may sit in more than one | SICS list |
| 2 · Consider the topics | Decide whether the SASB disclosure topics for that industry apply to you — optional under UK SRS, required under IFRS | UK SRS S1 ¶55(a) |
| 3 · Consider the metrics | Decide whether the associated metrics help you disclose what is material | UK SRS S1 ¶58(a) |
| 4 · Say what you used | Identify the standards and guidance applied, including any SASB topics | UK SRS S1 ¶59(a) — “shall” |
| 5 · Climate metrics | Disclose industry-based metrics; consulting the SASB-derived guidance to choose them is optional | UK SRS S2 ¶32 |
| 6 · Targets | Consider industry-based metrics when setting and monitoring targets | UK SRS S2 ¶37 — “shall” |
| 7 · Check the version | Use the current version for your industry; 2025-12 for three financial sectors from 2027 | SASB Standards |
The order matters because step 4 is mandatory even when steps 2 and 3 are not.
A UK SRS reporter that decides not to use the SASB material still has to identify what it did use, and a report that says nothing about its sources of guidance has missed a “shall”.
For climate, step 5 is where most of the work sits: the duty to disclose industry-based metrics did not soften, so a company that sets the SASB-derived guidance aside needs another defensible basis for its industry metrics.
For a group reporting under both IFRS and UK SRS, take the IFRS route at steps 2 and 3, because it satisfies both texts.
Against the others
SASB beside GRI, TCFD and the ESRS
| SASB | GRI | TCFD | ESRS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | ISSB | GSSB | Disbanded 2023 | European Commission |
| Organised by | Industry (77) | Universal, sector and topic standards | Four pillars | Cross-cutting and topical standards |
| Materiality | Financial, by industry | Impact | Financial | Double |
| UK status | Referenced by UK SRS (“may”) | Voluntary | Replaced by UK SRS for listed companies | Reaches UK groups through CSRD |
SASB is most often compared with GRI; the two answer different questions and many companies use both — see GRI Standards.
The wider comparison is on ESG frameworks in the UK; the TCFD’s legacy is on TCFD; the EU regime against UK SRS is on CSRD vs UK SRS.
Check yourself
Five claims about SASB, true or false
Each statement is common in summaries of SASB, and each is settled by an owner’s document.
The third is the one most likely to cause a reporting error under UK SRS.
The answers name their source so each can be checked.
SASB Standards: true or false?
The IFRS Foundation absorbed SASB directly in 2022.
All 77 SASB Standards carry version 2023-12.
Under UK SRS an entity never has to mention SASB.
UK SRS S2 dropped the duty to disclose industry-based metrics.
The UK’s “may” wording is final and permanent.
0 of 5 answered.
Nothing you choose is stored or sent.
Frequently asked
SASB Standards, answered
What are the SASB Standards?
Industry-specific sustainability disclosure standards that identify the sustainability-related issues most relevant to investor decision-making in 77 industries, each with its own disclosure topics and metrics.
They are organised by SICS, the Sustainable Industry Classification System, across 11 sectors.
Who owns the SASB Standards now?
The ISSB.
In the IFRS Foundation’s words, the ISSB “is responsible for the SASB Standards” and is “maintaining and enhancing” them.
Responsibility passed in August 2022, when the Value Reporting Foundation — which SASB had joined in 2021 — consolidated into the IFRS Foundation.
Was the SASB Standards Board dissolved?
No owner statement in those words has been found.
The IFRS Foundation describes the Board only in the past tense, as part of how the standards were developed.
What is clear is that the ISSB now governs the standards.
What is SICS?
The Sustainable Industry Classification System, which organises the SASB Standards into 77 industries across 11 sectors.
The ISSB decided in May 2024 to retain it.
Which version of the SASB Standards applies?
Most carry version 2023-12, effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025.
Three financial-sector standards — Asset Management & Custody Activities, Commercial Banks and Insurance — carry version 2025-12, issued on 18 December 2025 and effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.
Is SASB mandatory or optional under UK SRS?
Neither, flatly.
UK SRS S1 ¶¶55(a) and 58(a) say an entity may refer to and consider the SASB disclosure topics and metrics, where IFRS S1 says shall.
But UK SRS S1 ¶59(a) still requires the entity to say which SASB topics it applied, if any.
Permissive to use; mandatory to say so.
How do the SASB Standards relate to IFRS S2?
IFRS S2’s Industry-based Guidance is derived from the SASB Standards.
IFRS S2 requires industry-based metrics (¶32) and says the entity shall refer to and consider the guidance; UK SRS S2 keeps the duty to disclose industry-based metrics but makes consulting the guidance optional at ¶¶12, 23 and 32.
Why did the UK soften the SASB references?
The government’s exposure-draft consultation said the “shall” wording would not require entities to disclose using the materials but could require them to prove, with evidence, how they had considered the materials when asked by an assurance provider.
It said it will review the amendment after the ISSB finishes enhancing the SASB Standards.
Where should SASB Standards be cited from?
From the IFRS Foundation’s own pages — the SASB Standards page on ifrs.org and the standards library at sasb.ifrs.org.
The old sasb.org standards address now redirects, and the navigator site requires registration.
Is SASB the same as GRI?
No. SASB is industry-specific and written for investors, under financial materiality.
GRI covers an organisation’s most significant impacts on the economy, environment and people, for a general audience.
Many companies use both.
How do I find my SASB industry?
Look the company up in the SICS industry list published by the IFRS Foundation, which classifies 77 industries across 11 sectors.
A diversified company may fall into more than one industry and consider the topics for each.
Does a UK company have to mention SASB in its UK SRS report?
It has to identify the standards and guidance it applied, including any SASB disclosure topics (UK SRS S1 ¶59(a)).
Using the SASB material is optional under UK SRS; saying what was used is not.
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 FoundationSASB Standards
“The ISSB is responsible for the SASB Standards… maintaining and enhancing” them; version stamps.
- IFRS FoundationSASB Standards — standards library
The live home for the standards themselves; 77 industries.
- IFRS FoundationIFRS Foundation completes consolidation with Value Reporting Foundation — 1 August 2022
The body consolidated was the VRF; “the ISSB, which now governs the SASB Standards”.
- IFRS FoundationSICS industry list, 10 October 2025 (PDF)
“SICS covers 77 industries across 11 sectors.”
- IFRS FoundationConsolidated organisations
The VRF and CDSB consolidations.
- CDSB (legacy site)CDSB consolidation notice
Consolidated into the IFRS Foundation on 31 January 2022.
- IFRS FoundationIFRS S1 — full text
¶¶55(a), 58(a): “shall refer to and consider”.
- IFRS FoundationIFRS S2 — full text
¶¶12, 23, 32, 37: the Industry-based Guidance, derived from SASB.
- IFRS FoundationISSB issues targeted amendments to IFRS S2 — December 2025
With consequential amendments to three SASB Standards.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S1 (PDF)
¶¶55(a), 58(a) “may”; ¶59(a) still “shall”.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S2 (PDF)
¶¶12, 23, 32 “may”; ¶37 and ¶B65(d) “shall”.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS consultation response, Annex A (PDF)
The shall-to-may rows and the government’s reasoning.
- Department for Business and TradeExposure drafts of UK SRS — consultation
The proposal to soften the SASB references, and the promise to review it.
Continue reading
Read next
The ISSB framework
The standards SASB sits beneath, and who governs them.
IFRS S1
The sources-of-guidance hierarchy that sends an entity to SASB.
UK SRS S2
Where the industry-based metrics duty sits in the UK text.
GRI Standards
The impact-reporting system many companies use alongside SASB.
UK SRS amendments
Every UK change from IFRS, including the SASB verbs.