Skip to main content
    QHSEtech
    Updated
    All glossary terms
    Content date: · No individual check logged· AI use

    TCFDTask Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures

    Definition

    Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures — the body behind recommendations on governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets.

    Editorial definition: The QHSE Standard, updated 3 October 2026 · https://qhsetech.com/glossary/tcfd

    Scope: The task force has disbanded; its recommendations are incorporated into ISSB standards. Check the framework actually required for the report.

    Sources checked: . Examples are editorial illustrations.

    What happened to the TCFD and where its content went

    The Financial Stability Board established the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures in 2015 to develop voluntary, consistent recommendations that companies could use to give investors, lenders and insurance underwriters information about their climate-related financial risks. The recommendations were finalised in 2017, and the Task Force had 30 international members. The IFRS Foundation describes the recommendations as four core recommendations and eleven disclosures. IFRS S2 is organised around governance, strategy, risk management and performance against climate-related targets.

    The Task Force no longer exists. In July 2023 the FSB announced that its work was complete, with the ISSB Standards described as the culmination of that work. The Task Force published its final status report in October 2023 and disbanded that month. The FSB asked the ISSB, a body within the IFRS Foundation, to take over monitoring of companies' climate-related disclosures from 2024, and the Foundation published its Progress on Corporate Climate-related Disclosures 2024 Report in November 2024. The final status report found that for financial year 2022, 58 per cent of companies reported in line with five or more of the eleven disclosures, up from 18 per cent in 2020, while only 4 per cent covered all eleven.

    The IFRS Foundation says a company applying IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 meets the TCFD recommendations because those standards incorporate them, and it has published a comparison of the IFRS S2 requirements with the recommendations. It adds that IFRS S2 goes further, with industry-based metrics, information on planned use of carbon credits to meet net emissions targets and more on financed emissions. Companies may still use the TCFD recommendations voluntarily and some may be required to, but with the Task Force gone its supporters list is inactive. A statement that a report is aligned with the TCFD therefore needs a year and a basis. This page is general information, not advice on which framework a report should use.

    Sources opened :

    What a TCFD-style climate disclosure record holds in software

    • The framework statement for each year: TCFD recommendations used voluntarily, required by a named rule, or replaced by IFRS S2 or another standard.
    • A crosswalk of the eleven disclosures to the place each is answered in the report.
    • Governance records: board and management oversight roles and the dates of reviews.
    • Climate-related physical and transition risks and opportunities, with time horizon and the link to the risk process.
    • Metrics and targets with definition, unit, method and the greenhouse gas standard used.
    • A gap list against IFRS S2, covering industry-based metrics, carbon credit plans and financed emissions where relevant.
    • The date and source of each statement about alignment.

    TCFD alignment, IFRS S2 compliance and the list of supporters

    A report can follow the TCFD structure voluntarily without meeting IFRS S2, while a company applying IFRS S2 meets the TCFD recommendations because they are incorporated. Since the Task Force has disbanded, its supporters list is inactive, so a claim of TCFD alignment is the company's own statement and should be read against the basis it gives.

    A hypothetical example: from a TCFD report to an IFRS S2 gap list

    Everything in this case is invented, and it describes no real company. A company published a climate report in 2022 that followed the eleven TCFD disclosures. Its record shows eight answered in full and three answered in part, since 8 plus 3 makes eleven. In 2026 a lender asks whether the company reports under IFRS S2. Instead of rewriting the report, the team builds a crosswalk and lists the three partial answers as gaps. It then adds three items IFRS S2 requires beyond the TCFD: industry-based metrics, planned use of carbon credits for its net emissions targets, and financed emissions, which it marks not applicable to its business with the reason.

    The reporting record states the basis of the current report as the TCFD recommendations used voluntarily and says IFRS S2 is not yet applied. The lender's question is answered with that statement, the crosswalk and the date. The company does not describe the report as IFRS S2 compliant until its jurisdiction or its own decision applies the standard.

    Common misunderstandings about the TCFD

    • The TCFD is not a current standard setter. It disbanded in October 2023, and monitoring passed to the ISSB from 2024.
    • TCFD alignment is not IFRS S2 compliance. IFRS S2 adds industry-based metrics, planned use of carbon credits and more on financed emissions.
    • Using the recommendations is not prohibited. The IFRS Foundation says companies can continue to use them and some may still be required to.
    • Reporting in line with the TCFD does not mean full coverage. For financial year 2022 only 4 per cent of companies covered all eleven disclosures.
    • A mention of the TCFD does not tell a reader the year or the scope. State what was covered and when.

    How the TCFD relates to other glossary terms

    The TCFD recommendations now sit inside the ISSB standards and alongside other climate reporting routes.

    • IFRS S1/S2: the standards that incorporate the TCFD recommendations and add requirements.
    • ESG: the wider set of topics within which climate-related financial disclosure sits.
    • GHG Protocol: the accounting standards behind the emissions metrics such reports include.
    • PCAF: the financed emissions standard for financial institutions, a topic where IFRS S2 adds requirements beyond the TCFD.

    Records and evidence that usually exist for TCFD-style disclosure

    • The published report and the crosswalk to the eleven disclosures.
    • Board and committee minutes that show oversight of climate matters.
    • Risk register entries for climate-related risks and opportunities.
    • Emissions inventory and target documents with method and edition.
    • The statement of basis for the report and the date it was approved.
    • Any investor or lender request and the reply that was sent.

    What a software tool needs to capture for TCFD-style reporting

    • A framework field for each reporting year that says which basis the report uses.
    • A mapping layer between the eleven disclosures and the matching IFRS S2 requirements, without losing the original structure.
    • Risk and opportunity records with time horizon and owner.
    • Metrics and targets with definitions, units and source system.
    • Version history for the report text, so an earlier year can be reproduced.
    • A gap list that shows what remains to be answered before a stronger claim is made.
    • An export that carries the basis statement with the figures.

    Catalog profiles documenting ESG data and reporting

    Profiles are listed by the ESG platform workflow rule. Being listed does not mean a product maps the TCFD recommendations to IFRS S2; ask in a demonstration.

    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.

    Related software

    Frequently asked questions

    Is the TCFD still active?

    No. The Financial Stability Board announced in July 2023 that the work was complete, and the Task Force disbanded in October 2023. Its recommendations remain available, and the IFRS Foundation took over monitoring of company progress from 2024.

    Do IFRS S1 and S2 replace the TCFD recommendations?

    The IFRS Foundation says the ISSB Standards fully incorporate the recommendations, so a company applying IFRS S1 and S2 meets them, and that IFRS S2 adds requirements. Whether those standards apply to a company depends on its jurisdiction.

    Can a company still say it reports in line with the TCFD?

    The IFRS Foundation says companies can continue to use the recommendations and some may still be required to. Because the supporters list is inactive, state the year, the basis and which disclosures were actually covered.

    More standards terms

    Related guides