What is the ISSB standard?
THEISSB (International Sustainability Standards Board) is an organization created by the IFRS Foundation in 2021 to develop a global ESG reporting framework oriented to the needs of financial markets.
The ISSB framework is based on two first standards published in 2023:
- IFRS S1 : general sustainability reporting requirements
- IFRS S2 : requirements specific to climate
These standards focus on financial materiality, transparency on ESG risks, and compatibility with IFRS accounting standards, making them particularly suitable for listed companies operating internationally.
Who is concerned?
- Listed companies outside the EU or under IFRS
- International groups Wishing to publish harmonized and globally recognized ESG reporting
- Non-European subsidiaries of European groups subject to the CSRD
- Businesses linked to global investors or foreign financial markets
- Organizations that want align their climate reports with TCFD/IFRS S2 expectations
ISSB: the global standard for simple materiality sustainability reporting
The challenges and complexities of the ISSB
📉 Finance-oriented, rigorous and still young reporting
The ISSB standard is based on an approach focused on financial materiality and the impacts on economic performance. This assumes:
- A fine cartography of ESG risks and opportunities
- A high level of granularity and auditability
- One explicit link to strategy, financial flows and KPIs
Of commonalities but also methodological differences with CSRD (double materiality vs simple materiality)
How Harnest makes your life easier
🌐 A structured, interoperable and auditable ISSB production
- Financial ESG risk mapping tools (aligned with IFRS S1/S2)
- CSRD ↔ ISSB Convergent Data Model
- Writing climate reports compatible with TCFD/S2 with sovereign AI
- Unified collection with other standards (GRI, SFDR, EDCI...)
- Configurable exports for each geographical area or subsidiary
Benefits for your organization
📈 Consistent and globally recognized ESG reporting
- Speak the same language as your international investors
- Align your subsidiaries with the ISSB framework, while producing CSRD reporting at the group level
- Structure robust financial ESG reporting that is verifiable and usable by the markets
- Facilitate comparisons between references and geographical areas
🌍 Manage rigorous ISSB reporting that is aligned with your other ESG obligations