The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has revealed plans to publish a series of amendments to the legacy Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards during the middle of next year.
The ISSB prioritised work on the SASB standards as one of the outcomes of its public consultation on its work plan for the next two years.
ISSB staff member Himani Phadke said: “We are hoping to, as we’ve said in July, produce exposure drafts of updates to the standards by the middle of next year.
“So that’ll be another opportunity for a wider group of stakeholders to provide comments on the standards.”
The purpose of the project is to enhance an initial set of SASB standards to support the implementation of IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures.
The ISSB has prioritised enhancements to the SASB standards by focusing on all eight standards within the Extractives & Minerals Processing sector and the Electric Utilities & Power Generators standard in the infrastructure sector.
Additionally, they aim to include three standards in the Food & Beverage sector in the initial phase of work – subject to assessing capacity.
The proposed amendments will be coordinated with and informed by research conducted in connection with the other projects on the ISSB’s work plan. This includes two research projects dealing with Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services (BEES) and human capital.
The meeting heard that the SASB standards already include substantial content related to BEES and human capital.
Based on staff’s analysis, approximately 39% of SASB metrics are connected to BEES, and 17% are related to human capital, appearing across many industry standards.
At present, the SASB standards act as a source of guidance for IFRS S1, while also serving as industry-based guidance for IFRS S2 disclosures.
Staff say that by analysing how BEES and human capital issues are currently addressed in the SASB standards, they can identify areas for enhancement and ensure the standards remain relevant.
The staff were clear, however, that the work on the SASB standards is not operating in a silo.
ISSB staff member Claire Goydan said: “We want to highlight that the ISSB’s research projects on BEES and human capital and the work on enhancements to the SASB standards are connected.
“Staff are working hand in hand to leverage findings from each workstream and advance them in an interconnected manner.”
However, the staff also emphasised that they were aware of the risk of unintended consequences if they proposed changes to the literature.
“We are approaching the enhancements to the SASB standards with an abundance of caution and care in terms of this content that we have,” said ISSB project manager Cory Walrod.
He added: “From what I’ve seen so far […] we recognise that there may be better ways to define certain terms, better third-party references that are more broadly used […] Our drive is to make sure that the investors have the information they need to make good decisions.”
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