UKSIF response: DBT consultation on Exposure drafts, UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (SRS)

We welcome the opportunity to respond on behalf of our members to the government’s important consultation on the draft UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (SRS), based on the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) disclosure standards.

As an internationally-leading financial centre and as a country that has played a vital role in recent years in shaping the priorities of the ISSB and its disclosure standards, we strongly believe that the close alignment of the UK’s upcoming SRS with the ISSB’s standards would mark an important moment in global efforts to promote a common, decision-useful baseline of sustainability and climate-related financial disclosures that can help advance long-term economic growth and the net-zero transition.

We largely agree with government’s amendments to the ISSB’s IFRS S1 and S2 standards and we very much welcome the consultation’s proposals that should assist with maximising opportunities for interoperability with the ISSB’s common baseline of sustainability and climate-related financial disclosures.

However, we note our preference for government’s approach not to amend the references to consideration of the SASB’s standards as currently proposed. Given, that this deviation from our view could facilitate the likelihood of less comparability and standardisation in disclosures among companies, and consequently in the wider economy, that could reduce the economic benefits of the UK’s SRS for investors and non-financial companies

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