The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has officially launched the public consultation on the new financial disclosure guidelines related to nature and biodiversity. The exposure draft was published this Thursday, 22 October 2026, coinciding with the COP17 biodiversity conference.
The key points of this consultation and the development of the regulation are:
Format and objectives of the project
Practice Statement: the requirements will not be structured as an independent standard or mandatory amendment, but as an IFRS Practice Statement. It will be a document of voluntary guidance designed to complement the existing IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 standards.
Consultation period: a 120-day public consultation period is opened to receive feedback from companies, investors, and global regulators.
Focus on materiality: although the document will be a methodological guide, the chair of the ISSB has reminded that disclosing material information on nature-related risks is already mandatory under the overarching framework of the IFRS S1 standard.
Technical content and alliance with TNFD
Based on the TNFD framework: the ISSB proposals are heavily inspired by the work of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) or Working Group on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. They will adopt its comprehensive, non-fragmented approach, which encompasses nature as a whole rather than isolating subtopics.
LEAP methodology: the incorporation of the LEAP approach (Locate, Evaluate, Analyse, Prepare) developed by TNFD is anticipated to help organisations measure their dependencies and environmental impacts.
Metrics and transparency: companies will need to detail how environmental risks and opportunities affect their business strategy, including specific geographical objectives on biodiversity, land use, water, and pollution.
