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    IFRS S1/S2IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards

    Definition

    ISSB sustainability-disclosure standards: IFRS S1 addresses sustainability-related financial information and IFRS S2 addresses climate-related disclosures.

    Editorial definition: The QHSE Standard, updated 3 October 2026 · https://qhsetech.com/glossary/ifrs-s1-s2

    Scope: Adoption, effective dates and local modifications depend on the jurisdiction.

    Sources checked: . Examples are editorial illustrations.

    What IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 require, and where they apply

    The International Sustainability Standards Board issued IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 in June 2023. Their stated objective is to require information about sustainability-related risks and opportunities, and about climate-related ones, that helps those who rely on general purpose financial reports decide whether to provide resources to the entity. IFRS S1 covers every sustainability-related risk and opportunity that, on a reasonable view, could be expected to bear on cash flows, on access to finance or on the cost of capital in the short, medium or long term, and sets general requirements for content and presentation. IFRS S2 applies the same approach to climate-related physical risks, transition risks and opportunities. Both ask for disclosures on governance, strategy, risk processes and performance, including progress towards targets.

    IFRS S2 builds on the TCFD recommendations and includes industry-based requirements derived from the SASB Standards. Both standards take effect for annual periods starting on or after 1 January 2024, and either may be applied earlier provided the other is applied as well. In December 2025 the ISSB issued targeted amendments to its greenhouse gas emissions disclosures, effective for periods that begin on 1 January 2027 or later and open to early application. They clarify that an entity may limit its Scope 3 Category 15 measurement to financed emissions as IFRS S2 defines them, allow classification systems other than the Global Industry Classification Standard for financed emissions, clarify a jurisdictional relief from using the GHG Protocol where only part of an entity must use a different method, and add a jurisdictional relief from using the latest IPCC warming potential values.

    The standards do not bind a company by themselves. The IFRS Foundation speaks of jurisdictions that have adopted or otherwise used the standards, and it publishes a jurisdictional profile, with the stated target and current requirements, only once a jurisdiction's approach is final. When it published the first 17 profiles in June 2025 it said 36 jurisdictions had adopted or otherwise used the standards or were finalising steps, and that its description of the EU approach had not been updated pending the Omnibus simplification of the ESRS. Check the law that applies to you. This page gives general information only, not advice on which standards a company must apply.

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    What an IFRS S1 and S2 record holds in software

    • The jurisdictional basis: a law, a regulator or a voluntary decision, and any local difference.
    • The version applied for each period, including whether the December 2025 amendments were applied early.
    • Risks and opportunities with time horizon and the reasoning on whether each could reasonably be expected to bear on the entity's prospects.
    • Disclosures for governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets, each with an owner and source.
    • Greenhouse gas data: the standard used, any relief relied on and the warming potential values.
    • Financed emissions or Scope 3 Category 15 data where relevant, with the classification system used.
    • The industry guidance used for industry-based metrics, with exclusions explained.

    IFRS S1/S2, the ESRS and the TCFD

    The IFRS standards are written for providers of capital and are applied by jurisdiction. The ESRS are EU delegated acts for undertakings within the CSRD and use a double materiality lens. Both can touch a group with operations in several places, and both sides refer to interoperability, but a datapoint prepared for one is not automatically valid for the other. The TCFD recommendations are incorporated into IFRS S2.

    A hypothetical example: which period applies the amendments

    This case is invented for illustration and describes no real company. A group reports in a jurisdiction that applies IFRS S2, and its financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March. For the year beginning 1 April 2026 the December 2025 amendments are not yet effective, since they take effect for periods that begin on 1 January 2027 or later, but early application is permitted and the team decides to apply them, recording the date and reason. For the year beginning 1 April 2027 they apply by their effective date. The record therefore shows the amendments applied in both years, by choice in the first and by date in the second.

    The team limits its Scope 3 Category 15 disclosure to financed emissions as IFRS S2 defines them, as the amendments clarify is permitted, and records the classification system used to break the figure down, which is not the Global Industry Classification Standard. A reviewer then checks the jurisdiction's profile and local rules, because adoption and timing are set by the jurisdiction.

    Common misunderstandings about IFRS S1 and S2

    • IFRS S1 and S2 are not law by themselves. Each jurisdiction decides whether, when and how it adopts or otherwise uses them.
    • Early application is conditional. IFRS S1 may be applied early only if IFRS S2 is also applied, and the reverse.
    • IFRS S2 is not a thin climate add-on. It integrates the TCFD recommendations and adds industry-based requirements derived from the SASB Standards.
    • Financed emissions are not always the whole of Scope 3 Category 15. The amendments clarify that an entity may limit its measurement to financed emissions as IFRS S2 defines them.
    • A jurisdictional relief is not general. It exists only where the jurisdiction provides it, for measurement standards or warming potential values.

    How IFRS S1 and S2 relate to other glossary terms

    The two standards pull earlier frameworks into one global baseline that jurisdictions adopt in their own way.

    • TCFD: the recommendations incorporated into IFRS S2.
    • SASB: the industry-based standards from which IFRS S2 draws its industry requirements.
    • GHG Protocol: the accounting standards IFRS S2 uses for emissions, with a jurisdictional relief.
    • ESRS: the EU standards that sit alongside the IFRS standards for companies in scope.

    Records and evidence that usually exist for IFRS S1 and S2

    • The jurisdictional rule or decision that applies the standards, with its date.
    • The risk and opportunity assessment and the reasoning behind it.
    • Greenhouse gas calculations with factors, boundary and the standard followed.
    • Target documents and progress tracking.
    • A record of the edition and any amendments applied, with the dates.
    • Review notes and any assurance statement with its scope.

    What a software tool needs to capture for IFRS S1 and S2

    • A jurisdiction field that records the rule behind the reporting and its dates.
    • Version handling for the standards and for amendments applied early or on their effective date.
    • Risk and opportunity records with time horizon and a link to the metrics that support them.
    • Emissions data with the measurement standard and any relief noted.
    • Financed emissions fields and the classification system used, where relevant.
    • A mapping to other frameworks that keeps the original definition.
    • A change log and reviewer for each disclosure.

    Catalog profiles documenting ESG data and reporting

    Profiles are listed by the ESG platform workflow rule. The list does not say which ISSB standards or amendments a product supports; put that to each supplier.

    Same rule for every product: tagged “ESG Reporting”, “ESG Frameworks Reporting”, “Sustainability Reporting”, “ESG & Sustainability” or “Sustainability & ESG”, with a sourced ESG reporting or disclosure capability in its record, or one the vendor stated to us, labelled as vendor-stated. Documented and conditional capabilities qualify; check the linked scope before treating a module as included.

    Tekmon pays for a sponsored placement (above); its place in this list follows the same rule as every entry. How lists are ordered

    All 24 matching profiles are shown. Documentation review, not hands-on testing or a claim of compliance.

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    Frequently asked questions

    When do IFRS S1 and S2 take effect?

    The IFRS Foundation says both take effect for annual periods starting on or after 1 January 2024, and either may be applied earlier if the other is too. Whether a company must apply them depends on its jurisdiction.

    What did the December 2025 amendments change?

    They target greenhouse gas emissions disclosures in IFRS S2: financed emissions within Scope 3 Category 15, alternative classification systems, and two jurisdictional reliefs. They are effective for periods that begin on 1 January 2027 or later, and may be applied early.

    Does applying IFRS S2 satisfy the ESRS?

    Not by default. They are separate sets with a different legal basis. The Commission lists interoperability guidance of May 2024, and the IFRS Foundation said in June 2025 that its description of the EU approach awaited the ESRS simplification, so check the current mapping.

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