The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) plans to publish an exposure draft of its highly anticipated nature-related disclosure standards by COP17 – the so-called biodiversity COP – in October 2026.
Veronica Pouncheva, an ISSB board member, confirmed the target during an online Reuters event this week, signalling a major gear shift in the board’s work from research to active standard setting.
She said: “Our intention, and this was a decision which the board took last week in Frankfurt […] is that we are starting to draft our exposure draft, which we intend to publish by COP17 in October [20]26, on nature-related disclosure requirements.”
The effort will draw on the existing work of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), which last month announced that it would be winding up its technical work by Q3 2026 and pivot to supporting the ISSB’s work given the latter’s intention to begin standard-setting work on nature.
Mixed picture on biodiversity reporting
In terms of the broader picture in the European Union, however, the first wave of mandatory reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) has revealed that nature disclosures remain at an early stage.
At the same time, Norges Bank Investment Management, which owns as much as 1.7% of the world’s listed equity, has been clear that it expects companies to integrate biodiversity into their strategy and risk management.
However, in a move that could be seen as a bid to manage expectations, Pouncheva said the market should not “expect something in the size of [IFRS] S1 or S2.”
“Most probably it will be a document which will discuss approach and scope […] Our intention is to be able in this relatively short period of time […] to come with [an] exposure draft which addresses these needs,” she explained.
Investor concerns to be addressed
Based on the ISSB’s research so far, it emerged during the online meeting that the upcoming standard will address three core investor concerns:
- location-specific data;
- nature transition plans; and
- the interplay between climate and nature.
Meanwhile, the ISSB has also issued its final amendments to the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) disclosure requirements in IFRS S2 to address practical challenges identified by early adopters.
Updated GHG reporting rules
The changes will take effect for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 with early application permitted.
The changes also trigger consequential updates to three of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s (SASB) standards.
These changes are intended to ensure that financed emissions metrics within the SASB framework correspond directly with the revised IFRS S2 requirements.
ISSB vice chair Sue Lloyd said: “We are confident that the amendments will bring real relief to companies applying ISSB Standards without significantly affecting the decision-usefulness of information for investors.”
The release of the amended standards rounds off a year-long project that threatened to undermine the board’s reputation for issuing stable and usable reporting rules.
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