Summary

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) announced that “[c]lose to 400 organisations from 64 jurisdictions have committed to advancing the adoption or use of the International Sustainability Standards Board’s climate-related reporting at a global level” at the COP28. The Canada Climate Law Initiative (CCLI) has conducted research into the jurisdictional adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Climate-related Disclosures (IFRS S2) standards to aid stakeholders in strengthening their analysis and recommendations and demonstrating robust support for the Canadian Sustainability Disclosure Standards (CSDS 2) to be aligned with IFRS S2. This data highlights the global momentum towards standardized climate-related reporting. Aligning the CSDS 2 to global climate-related disclosure standards is essential to ensure that Canada remains at the forefront of global sustainability reporting practices.

The interactive table below highlights each jurisdiction’s status, state, effectiveness date, the complete or partial adoption of IFRS S2, and the detailed provision deviations. CCLI’s research indicates that 36 countries have introduced or are in the process of introducing IFRS S2. Among these jurisdictions, 67.7% have adopted or plan to adopt the standard without amendment.

Of these 36 jurisdictions, 17 jurisdictions (47.22%) have already adopted the standards, with 25 (69.44%) doing so without any revisions (Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ghana, HK, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Türkiye, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe). Additionally, 6 jurisdictions (16.67%) have adopted or plan to adopt the standards with revisions. These revisions typically include: alterations to the requirement to report on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, voluntary rather than mandatory reporting, the use of cross-industry metrics and specific industry-based guidance, and declarations of potential country-specific revisions following consultation.

In contrast, China, the European Union (EU), India, South Africa, and Switzerland have created their own standards that are not IFRS S2 standards, but that are aligned with or based on IFRS S2 as well as the TCFD recommendations. The EU’s framework is comprehensive and in many ways goes beyond the requirements of IFRS S2. However, the EU has worked with the ISSB to produce interoperability guidance to demonstrate the vast similarities. China, India and South Africa, on the other hand, have significantly watered-down versions of the sustainability standards that do not meet the specificity of the IFRS S2 standards. Switzerland has not created any version of the IFRS S2 standards, nor has it mandated their use in reporting. The IFRS S2 standards have been added to the list of standards that reporting entities in Switzerland may use in their disclosure of climate-related financial risks and opportunities.

Each jurisdiction provided different disclosure dates based on its country-specific requirements and the results of its consultations. Fifteen jurisdictions (48%) applied a phased-in approach to disclosure reporting. Some based the approach on the size or type of the company, whilst others phased in the level of reporting requirements. Using the last date in the phased-in approach shows 2 jurisdictions (6.45%) require full reporting by 2024, 4 (12.9%) by 2025, 6 (19.35%) by 2026, 7 (22.6%) by 2027, 3 (9.7%) by 2028, 2 (6.45%) by 2029, 1 (3.2%) by 2030, and 2 (6.45%) by 2031. 4 jurisdictions (12.9%) do not yet specify their disclosure reporting dates.

The IFRS S2 are currently undergoing an amendment consultation, which could result in changes that affect the outcome of this table. We are monitoring for any updates and will revise the table accordingly. 

Below, we highlight key jurisdictions for the Canadian market: Australia, the United Kingdom (UK), and the EU.

Adoption Chart

The chart below shows the status of IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures adoption by jurisdiction. Scroll left to right and top to bottom to see full chart.

Notes

This table evaluates the adoption of IFRS S2 in relation to climate governance. Given its alignment with our expertise, IFRS S2 has been a primary focus for the Canada Climate Law Initiative. However, it is important to recognize that IFRS S2 operates in conjunction with IFRS S1, which forms its foundational basis, making both standards crucial.

The list of countries in this table was compiled from the IFRS website, specifically from the continuously updated jurisdictional consultations page and the IFRS 2024 Progress Report on Climate-related Disclosures.

For the purposes of this evaluation, full adoption of IFRS S2 is defined as no modifications made to the standard’s text. Partial adoption applies if amendments are made to the IFRS S2 standards in their exposure drafts, and an indication that the standards are only IFRS S2 aligned denotes that the jurisdiction has created its own standards entirely with alignment with the IFRS S2. Countries without available data, are noted on the IFRS website as having declared adoption, but specific information is yet forthcoming.

Following the release of the IFRS’ Inaugural Jurisdictional Guide for the adoption or other use of ISSB Standards on 12 June 2025, CCLI revisited the IFRS S2 adoption chart to ensure comparability. Discrepancies that were found were down to the interpretation of full adoption versus partial adoption. In the IFRS’ case, adoption was deemed partial if 1) the jurisdiction’s adoption was in the future, and 2) if the adoption only covered part of the economy. CCLI’s objective in creating and maintaining this chart is to determine the extent to which adoption of the IFRS S2 standards include amendments to the original text of the IFRS S2 standard. This has not changed. As such, CCLI has retained the above methodology for the determination of full/partial adoption.