Physical climate risk data,
ready for IFRS S2.
Most of IFRS S2 reads like TCFD. Industry metrics don't. IFRS S2 is the ISSB's global climate disclosure baseline, adopted in 36 jurisdictions and counting. Most of it tracks TCFD's four pillars. One demand doesn't: Appendix B industry-based metrics, drawn from SASB across 70+ industries.
IFRS S2 is the ISSB's global climate disclosure standard. Issued June 2023 alongside IFRS S1 and effective for reporting periods on or after 1 January 2024, it sits on TCFD's four pillars (governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets), routes industry-specific metrics through SASB Appendix B across 11 sectors and 70+ industries, and requires anticipated financial effects of material climate risks.
Whoever the jurisdiction says. IFRS S2 only applies where adopted into national law. Mandatory in 21+ jurisdictions including Hong Kong, Australia (as AASB S2), Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Qatar, Pakistan, Nigeria. 36 jurisdictions are in the adoption pipeline. Voluntary baseline available everywhere else for investor-driven disclosure.
IFRS S2 is the global baseline. Jurisdictions decide who reports.
The ISSB issues IFRS S2 as a single mandatory standard for climate-related financial disclosures. It only applies where a jurisdiction has adopted it into law. That makes it both the most widely-adopted climate standard in the world and the one most often filed alongside local variations.
IFRS S2 didn't replace TCFD. It built on it.
TCFD gave the world four pillars and the language of climate disclosure. IFRS S2 takes that scaffold and adds three demands TCFD never made: industry-specific metrics, quantified financial effects, and a global classification system that holds up across jurisdictions.
Cross-industry tells one story. Industry metrics tell yours.
IFRS S2 Appendix B requires entities to consider industry-based disclosure topics drawn from SASB Standards across 11 sectors and 70+ industries. Real estate, oil & gas, asset management, agriculture: each has its own metrics list. Generic TCFD narratives don't satisfy this.
From describing risk to pricing it.
IFRS S2 paragraphs 15 to 21 require disclosure of current and anticipated financial effects of material climate risks and opportunities, qualitatively or quantitatively. Investors and assurance providers favour the latter, and capital markets are starting to price the difference.
Local mandates. Global data spine.
Australia layers Aus paragraphs. The UK adds a phased Scope 3 timeline. Canada is finalising CSDS. The standard is the same, the obligations differ. Multinationals win when one asset-level data set serves every jurisdictional filing.
The IFRS S2 framework: 7 chapters across two standards and four pillars.
IFRS S2 sits inside a tight architecture: IFRS S1 sets the general sustainability requirements, S2 specifies the climate disclosures, and Appendix B routes you through SASB's industry classifications. Click each section to unpack what's actually required.
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Chapter 1: ISSB & Jurisdictional Adoption
A standard the world adopts on its own terms.
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), established by the IFRS Foundation in 2021, develops the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards. Standards apply only where a jurisdiction has adopted them into national law or regulation.
- 36 jurisdictions adopting or aligning with IFRS S2; 21+ already in effect
- Full adopters: Hong Kong, Brazil, Pakistan, Chile, Qatar, Mexico, Nigeria, others
- Local variations: Australia (AASB S2), UK (UK SDS), Canada (CSDS), Singapore (SGX)
- Voluntary baseline available via the IFRS Foundation in non-adopting jurisdictions
- Jurisdictional Adopters Working Group convenes to address cross-border consistency
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Chapter 2: IFRS S1 General Requirements
The cross-cutting backbone.
IFRS S1 defines materiality, the connected information principle, value chain treatment, time horizons and the format of disclosures. It applies to all sustainability topics, not just climate, and underpins everything in IFRS S2.
- Materiality: information that could reasonably affect investor decisions
- Connected information: links between financial statements and sustainability disclosures
- Value chain: upstream and downstream, with proportionality reliefs
- Time horizons: short, medium, long-term, defined by the entity
- Disclosure location: in or alongside general purpose financial reports
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Chapter 3: IFRS S2 Governance
Who watches climate risk, and how.
Paragraph 6 of IFRS S2 sets out the governance disclosures: board oversight, management's role, and how climate is integrated into existing controls. Largely qualitative, but the details get audited where assurance applies.
- Board and committee oversight processes for climate-related risks and opportunities
- Skills, experience and access to expertise on climate at the governance level
- Management's role in assessing, monitoring and managing climate risks
- Frequency of climate-related reporting to the board
- Integration with broader risk management and internal control frameworks
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Chapter 4: IFRS S2 Strategy
From hazard to pounds.
The hard pillar. IFRS S2 paragraphs 9 through 22 cover material climate risks and opportunities, business model implications, transition planning, climate resilience analysis, and the anticipated financial effects of all of the above.
- Material climate-related risks and opportunities, classified as physical or transition
- Business model and value chain implications across time horizons
- Climate resilience assessment using climate-related scenarios (flexible scenario choice)
- Current and anticipated financial effects, qualitative or quantitative
- Transition plan information where one exists, with capex and progress disclosure
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Chapter 5: IFRS S2 Risk Management
How risks are identified, prioritised and integrated.
Process disclosures around how climate is woven into the entity's overall risk framework. The pillar is short on word count but heavy on rigour, and assurance teams test the inputs hard.
- Processes for identifying and assessing climate-related risks and opportunities
- Inputs and parameters used: data sources, scope, value-chain coverage
- Priority of climate risks within the overall enterprise risk management framework
- Monitoring, escalation and review cycles, with linkage to internal audit
- Changes from prior period, with explanation
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Chapter 6: IFRS S2 Metrics & Targets
Cross-industry baseline plus your industry's metrics.
Two metric sets sit in parallel. Cross-industry metrics apply to everyone (Scope 1, 2, 3 emissions; capital deployment; internal carbon prices; remuneration). Appendix B industry-based metrics route to your SASB industry classification.
- Scope 1, 2, 3 GHG emissions per the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard
- Climate-related transition and physical risks as a percentage of assets / business activities
- Capital deployed, internal carbon prices, executive remuneration linked to climate
- Industry-based metrics from SASB Appendix B (11 sectors, 70+ industries)
- Targets: type, scope, base year, time frame, and progress to date
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Chapter 7: Interoperability & Assurance
From disclosure to assured filing.
IFRS S2 is designed to interoperate. ESRS E1 is fully aligned with TCFD and substantially overlaps with IFRS S2. SASB industry metrics are embedded. Assurance is set jurisdictionally, with ISSA 5000 as the global baseline standard from IAASB.
- TCFD: fully integrated; IFRS S2 effectively succeeds the TCFD recommendations
- SASB: embedded in Appendix B for industry-specific disclosures
- ESRS interoperability: joint EFRAG-ISSB guidance on overlapping disclosures
- Assurance: ISSA 5000 (IAASB) is the global standard, with jurisdictional variations
- Digital tagging: IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy for machine-readable filings
One data spine. Every jurisdictional filing.
Asset-level physical risk, industry-specific metrics, quantified financial effects, audit-grade methodology. The IFRS S2 data spine carries every component of the climate disclosure and every jurisdictional variant on top of it.
Industry-specific metrics
Appendix B routes you through SASB's classification across 11 sectors and 70+ industries. Real estate has its own metrics. So does oil & gas, asset management, agriculture. Generic Scope 1, 2, 3 won't satisfy this.
Asset-level physical climate risk
Asset-level exposure across real estate, supply chain nodes and operational facilities. Country averages don't survive limited assurance, and they don't underwrite a credible adaptation plan.
Anticipated financial effects
IFRS S2 paragraphs 15 to 21 ask for current and anticipated financial effects across short, medium and long-term horizons. Qualitative is permitted, quantitative is preferred, and capital markets reward the difference.
Cross-jurisdictional portability
One asset-level data set serves IFRS S2, AASB S2, the UK SDS, Canada CSDS and ESRS E1 disclosures. Multinationals win when the data spine carries every filing without per-jurisdiction rebuild.
Physical climate risk data, built for IFRS S2 and every jurisdiction built on it.
Spectra is the physical climate risk data platform behind IFRS S2 disclosures at companies and financial institutions with over $13.5 trillion in combined AUM. One asset-level data spine serves IFRS S2, AASB S2, UK SDS, Canada CSDS, ESRS E1 and parallel TCFD-aligned filings.
Asset-level exposure, 2bn+ assets
Material physical climate risk for every asset in scope. 11 hazards, building-level vulnerability, geolocation precision down to address and parcel. The granularity IFRS S2 climate resilience analysis and Appendix B industry metrics demand, without country averages.
Multi-pathway scenarios
IPCC CMIP6 SSPs and CMIP5 RCPs covering low-warming and high-warming pathways. Short, medium and long-term horizons defined to your entity's planning cycle. NGFS scenarios for the financial sector view.
Hazard exposure to financial effect
Annual losses in monetary value, expected loss adjustments, business disruption risk and confidence intervals. The translation IFRS S2 paragraphs 15 to 21 require, by horizon, by material asset, in the units assurance providers expect.
Assurance-ready methodology
ISO 27001 and ISO 14001 certified, full methodology documentation and uncertainty disclosure. Defensible to ISSA 5000 limited and reasonable assurance, and ready to feed parallel ESRS, AASB S2, CSDS and SS5/25 filings.
Are you ready for IFRS S2 climate disclosure?
Pick your industry. The financial-effects question tailors itself to your SASB classification and the metrics that matter most to your sector.
IFRS S2 readiness self-check
IFRS S2: the questions sustainability and finance leaders ask.
What is IFRS S2?
IFRS S2 is the ISSB's global climate disclosure standard, issued June 2023 alongside IFRS S1 (general sustainability requirements) and effective for reporting periods on or after 1 January 2024. Built on the four TCFD pillars (governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets), it adds three demands TCFD never made: industry-specific metrics drawn from SASB across 11 sectors and 70+ industries (Appendix B), quantified anticipated financial effects of material climate risks across short, medium and long-term horizons (paragraphs 15-21), and a globally consistent classification system that holds up across jurisdictions.
Who has to comply with IFRS S2?
It depends on the jurisdiction. IFRS S2 is mandatory only where a country has adopted it into national law. As of January 2026, 21+ jurisdictions have made it mandatory on a voluntary or mandatory basis, including Hong Kong (effective 1 August 2025), Australia (as AASB S2, phased from 1 January 2025), Brazil (CBPS 01/02 mandatory for PAEs from 1 January 2026), Chile, Mexico, Qatar, Pakistan and Nigeria. A further 36 jurisdictions are in the adoption pipeline including the UK (UK SDS), Canada (CSDS, voluntary pending mandatory action), Singapore (SGX phased), and Japan (SSBJ). Outside adopting jurisdictions, IFRS S2 remains available as a voluntary baseline for investor-driven disclosure.
What's the difference between IFRS S2 and TCFD?
TCFD provided the four-pillar disclosure framework that IFRS S2 builds on. IFRS S2 effectively succeeds TCFD by making three things mandatory that TCFD only recommended: industry-specific metrics drawn from SASB through Appendix B (11 sectors, 70+ industries), quantified disclosure of current and anticipated financial effects of material climate risks across short, medium and long-term horizons (paragraphs 15-21), and a global classification system that holds up across jurisdictions. The TCFD itself disbanded in 2023 with the IFRS Foundation taking over monitoring of climate-related disclosures. Companies still reporting only against TCFD recommendations should expect to migrate as their jurisdiction adopts IFRS S2.
Which jurisdictions have adopted IFRS S2?
21+ jurisdictions have adopted IFRS S2 on a voluntary or mandatory basis as of January 2026, with reporting starting between January 2024 and January 2026. The major mandatory adopters are Hong Kong (effective 1 August 2025), Australia (as AASB S2, phased from 1 January 2025 for large entities), Brazil (CBPS 01/02 for PAEs from 1 January 2026), Chile, Mexico and Qatar (mandatory from 1 January 2026), Pakistan (mandatory July 2025), Nigeria, and Turkey (TFRS S1/S2 phased rollout). 36 jurisdictions are in the broader adoption pipeline. The UK (UK SDS) and Canada (CSDS, currently voluntary) are progressing toward mandatory implementation. China issued a draft IFRS S2-aligned standard in late 2025 with timing yet to be set.
What is IFRS S2 Appendix B?
IFRS S2 Appendix B is the SASB-derived industry-based metrics requirement. Entities must consider industry-based disclosure topics drawn from SASB Standards across 11 sectors and 70+ industries. Real estate entities have their own metrics list. So do oil and gas companies, asset managers, banks, insurers, manufacturers and agricultural producers. Generic Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions disclosure won't satisfy Appendix B by itself: each industry has sector-specific exposure topics and metrics that have to be disclosed. This is the single biggest standing-start for entities migrating from TCFD to IFRS S2, since TCFD never required industry-specific metrics.
How does Climate X help with IFRS S2 disclosure?
Climate X provides asset-level physical climate risk data built for IFRS S2 climate resilience analysis (paragraphs 13-14), anticipated financial effects (paragraphs 15-21) and Appendix B industry-based physical risk metrics. The Spectra platform covers 2 billion+ assets globally with 11 hazards, geolocation precision down to address and parcel, and multi-pathway scenarios using IPCC CMIP6 SSPs, CMIP5 RCPs and NGFS pathways across short, medium and long-term horizons. Methodology is ISO 27001 and ISO 14001 certified, ISSA 5000 assurance-ready, and serves parallel filings under AASB S2, UK SDS, Canada CSDS, ESRS E1 and SS5/25 from one data spine. Explore Spectra or talk to a climate risk expert about your IFRS S2 reporting cycle.
From hazard to pounds.
Asset-level physical climate risk and adaptation data, ready for IFRS S2 disclosure and every jurisdictional filing built on it.
