Australian Accounting Standards Board Releases Proposed IFRS-based Climate-related Reporting Standards

The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) has announced the publication of a new exposure draft today. This draft outlines the proposed guidelines for companies to report information related to climate impact. These guidelines are based on the recently issued sustainability disclosure standards by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) of the IFRS Foundation.

This release of proposed standards is a response to the Australian government’s earlier announcement this year, which detailed plans to enforce mandatory financial disclosure requirements concerning climate-related matters for both companies and financial institutions. The reporting obligations will commence as early as 2024 for large businesses, with smaller entities being phased in over the subsequent three years. The AASB, a government agency responsible for setting accounting standards, was entrusted with the task of developing sustainability reporting standards to fulfil the government’s commitment.

The AASB has made available the Exposure Draft ED SR1, titled “Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards – Disclosure of Climate-related Financial Information,” to put forth the requirements for disclosing climate-related financial information. Interested parties can provide their feedback on ED SR1 until Friday, March 1, 2024.

ED SR1 encompasses three draft Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards (ASRS Standards):

1. A draft of ASRS 1, which pertains to the general requirements for disclosing climate-related financial information. It is developed with the IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information as the foundation but with a specific focus on climate-related financial disclosure.
2. A draft of ASRS 2, dedicated to climate-related financial disclosures, developed using IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures as a basis.
3. A draft of ASRS 101, which deals with references in Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards. This standard is designed as a service standard and will be updated periodically to list the relevant versions of any non-legislative documents published in Australia and foreign documents referenced in ASRS Standards.

Click here to access the draft.