从 2025 财年开始，新交所将要求所有上市公司开始报告范围 1 和范围 2 温室气体 (GHG) 排放，他们的气候相关披露还必须纳入国际可持续发展标准委员会 (ISSB) 发布的 IFRS 可持续发展披露标准中的气候相关要求。
SGX RegCo to start incorporating IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards into climate reporting rules
Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) has enhanced its sustainability reporting regime and will start incorporating the latest international standards into its sustainability reporting regime following broad support from respondents to a public consultation.
Beginning with financial year (FY) 2025, SGX RegCo will require all issuers to start reporting Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Their climate-related disclosures must also start incorporating the climate-related requirements in the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).
Requiring the use of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards builds on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) that SGX RegCo has mandated in a phased approach since FY 2022.
Most respondents to the consultation supported the move for all issuers to carry out mandatory climate-related reporting versus the current requirement for only certain sectors to do so. But they also highlighted challenges, particularly for smaller issuers, in relation to the evolving measurement and reporting methodologies for Scope 3 GHG emissions. This is notwithstanding the one-year transition relief for the disclosure of Scope 3 GHG emissions in the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards.
SGX RegCo will therefore review issuers’ experience and readiness before establishing the implementation roadmap for reporting Scope 3 GHG emissions. The current plan is to prioritise larger issuers by market capitalisation with the intention that they report Scope 3 GHG emissions from FY 20261. Issuers will be provided with ample notice before the effective date.
“The changes to our rules mark the culmination of the efforts of the Sustainability Reporting Advisory Committee to prepare issuers for a low-carbon future. The disclosure of Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions is an important step to enable larger issuers to report their Scope 3 GHG emissions. SGX RegCo on our part will continue to facilitate capacity building to assist issuers on their climate reporting journeys,” said Mr Tan Boon Gin, CEO of SGX RegCo.
“This is a positive step towards more globally consistent and comparable sustainability-related disclosures, which will enable SGX-listed companies to demonstrate resilience against climate risks as well as seize opportunities in our transition to a low-carbon economy,” said Mr Lim Tuang Lee, Assistant Managing Director (Capital Markets), Monetary Authority of Singapore.
To provide time for issuers to focus on these climate-related disclosures in FY 2025, the other primary components of a sustainability report (other than climate-related disclosures) will be mandated from FY 20262.
Issuers that do not conduct external assurance on their sustainability reports must issue their sustainability reports together with their annual reports from FY 2026.
Issuers that do conduct external assurance on their sustainability reports will continue to have up to five months after the end of their financial year to issue their sustainability reports. The extra month is aimed as a transitional measure to encourage issuers to conduct external assurance.
For ease of reference, a summary table of the amendments is set out as follows:
More details on the responses to the public consultation and the new rules are found here.
1 This is the timeline for disclosure of Scope 3 GHG emissions if the climate-relevant requirements of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards were fully implemented in FY 2025, due to the in-built one-year transition relief.
2 The other primary components of a sustainability report are:
a) Material ESG factors;
b) Policies, practices and performance;
c) Targets;
d) Sustainability reporting framework; and
e) Board statement and associated governance structure for sustainability practices
3 An issuer must issue a sustainability report for its financial year, no later than 4 months after the end of the financial year, or where the issuer has conducted external assurance on the sustainability report, no later than 5 months after the end of the financial year.
SGX RegCo details how sustainability reports should incorporate ISSB Standards
Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) is consulting the market on details of how the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards are to be incorporated into its sustainability reporting rules for climate-related disclosures, in line with the Sustainability Reporting Advisory Committee’s recommendations announced on 28 February 2024.
Feedback is also sought on a proposal to make mandatory the reporting on the primary components of a sustainability report (Primary Components)[1] from the current “comply or explain” basis.
Sustainability reporting was introduced to SGX-listed issuers on a voluntary basis in 2011. It was made mandatory in 2016 with description of the Primary Components on a “comply or explain” basis. Listed issuers have progressed since.
Climate reporting based on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) was mandated for financial year (FY) 2022 on a “comply or explain” basis for all issuers, and FY 2023 and FY 2024 for issuers in certain carbon intensive industries, on a mandatory basis in phases.
“SGX-listed issuers have improved their sustainability reporting over the years. Most already undertake climate-related disclosures based on the TCFD recommendations. The ISSB Standards have since been launched globally to meet demand for more consistent and comparable disclosures. We want to help issuers report based on these new standards so that they are ready for a low-carbon future,” said Tan Boon Gin, CEO of SGX RegCo.
Mr Lim Tuang Lee, Assistant Managing Director (Capital Markets), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said, “MAS is supportive of Singapore Exchange’s move to incorporate ISSB standards into the disclosure requirements for listed companies in Singapore. This is in line with the drive towards consistent and comparable disclosures across jurisdictions to catalyse the global net zero transition.”
Among others, SGX RegCo proposes that its listing rules be amended, and its Sustainability Reporting Guide encompass, the following:
- from FY 2025, issuers should refer to both ISSB’s IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 in preparing climate-related disclosures, including any (permanent) structural and (temporary) transition reliefs;
- issuers should disclose Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the measurement approach from FY 2025;
- Issuers should disclose applicable categories of Scope 3 GHG emissions from FY 2026;
- issuers should disclose industry-based metrics and cross-industry metric categories relevant for climate-related disclosures; and
- the sustainability report should be issued according to current timelines in FY 2025; from FY 2026, it should be issued together with the annual report.
The consultation is open till 5 April 2024 and the paper is found here: https://regco.sgx.com/public-consultations
[1] The sustainability report must include the following primary components:
- Material ESG factors
- Climate-related disclosures consistent with the TCFD recommendations
- Policies, practices and performance
- Targets
- Sustainability reporting framework
- Board statement and associated governance structure for sustainability practices