The ISSB published its proposals for nature-related disclosures on 22 October 2026, and you can comment on them until 19 February 2027. They come as an exposure draft of a Practice Statement, which means companies wouldn't have to apply them to state compliance with IFRS S1 and IFRS S2.
If you already report under IFRS S1, you're already on the hook for material nature-related risks and opportunities. The draft spells out how to report them, and it borrows heavily from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
Here's what you need to know:
- It's a Practice Statement (for now). Same content and drafting as a Standard, but optional for ISSB compliance. The ISSB is also asking whether it should become a full Standard instead.
- The comment period is 120 days. It closes on 19 February 2027.
- Dependencies and impacts are in scope. The draft covers how your dependencies and impacts on nature give rise to financial risks and opportunities.
- Location matters. Following the TNFD, the draft puts weight on where you operate and on engagement with Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and affected stakeholders.
- It's built to work with GRI and ESRS. The ISSB says companies applying the GRI Standards or the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) should be able to use the Practice Statement alongside them efficiently.
What are the ISSB nature-related disclosures?
The ISSB nature-related disclosures are a set of proposed requirements, published as Exposure Draft ISSB/ED/2026/1, for a future IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Practice Statement 1 Nature-related Disclosures. They add nature-specific detail on top of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, and they don't change either Standard.
Where the project came from
Investors asked for it. Feedback on the ISSB's 2023 agenda consultation showed growing demand for better nature information, so in April 2024 the ISSB started a research project called Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services (BEES). It was later renamed Nature-related Disclosures, with the same scope.
In December 2025 the ISSB decided to move to standard-setting. It chose to draw on the TNFD framework (its recommendations, metrics and guidance), building on a 2025 memorandum of understanding between the IFRS Foundation and the TNFD.
Why a Practice Statement and not a Standard
Timing, mostly. Many companies and jurisdictions are still bolting IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 into their reporting, and the ISSB doesn't want a new mandatory Standard to knock that off course.
A Practice Statement goes through the same due process as a Standard, and the drafting is identical. The difference is in who has to use it:
- Companies can state compliance with ISSB Standards without applying it. If you do apply it, you can only claim compliance with the Practice Statement once you meet all of its requirements.
- Jurisdictions can adopt the ISSB Standards without adopting it. They can still choose to make it mandatory, or offer it on a voluntary basis.
So "optional at ISSB level" might still mean "required by your regulator" later on. Keep an eye on your local adoption plans.
ISSB nature-related disclosures timeline: key dates
The only hard date right now is the comment deadline. The draft proposes no effective date for the Practice Statement.
If it's finalised as a Practice Statement, you could use it from the date it's issued. Your date of initial application would have to be the start of an annual reporting period, and you wouldn't need to report nature disclosures for any period before that.
What the exposure draft requires
The draft keeps the 4 IFRS S1 core content areas (governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets) and adds a small number of nature-specific requirements. The ISSB says these target areas where investors have a clear, common information need.
Definitions
The draft defines 6 terms: nature-related risks, nature-related opportunities, nature-related physical risks, nature-related transition risks, environmental resources and ecosystem services.
Risks and opportunities arise from dependencies and impacts on environmental resources (yours and other parties'). You may need to disclose those dependencies and impacts so investors can follow the link to your prospects.
Location, across the value chain
You'd have to consider where your assets and activities sit throughout the value chain, plus the state of nature in those places. That applies when you identify risks and opportunities and when you disclose across all 4 core content areas.
The Accompanying Guidance has 4 worked examples of location reporting. The usual IFRS S1 limit on value chain scope still applies: reasonable and supportable information available without undue cost or effort.
Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and affected stakeholders
You'd have to consider your interactions with these groups, including engagement, when identifying risks and opportunities and when disclosing on governance, strategy and risk management.
The categories come from the TNFD. You don't have to use them, but you do have to say which groups of people your disclosures cover.
Specific disclosures
- Response and plans. How you've responded to, and plan to respond to, nature-related risks and opportunities in strategy and decision-making. This applies whether or not you have a nature transition plan.
- Resilience. The resilience of your strategy and business model, informed by nature-related scenario analysis. The same reliefs apply as for climate scenario analysis under IFRS S2.
- Vulnerability and alignment metrics. The amount and percentage of assets or business activities vulnerable to nature-related risks, and those aligned with nature-related opportunities. You don't need to split physical and transition risks, and you might present them by location.
- Targets. For each nature-related target you've set or must meet by law: what it covers, its location-specific aspects and objectives, and whether law or regulation shaped it.
- Compliance statement. If you comply with the Practice Statement, you'd have to say so.
Where to find metrics
You'd be required to refer to and consider the SASB Standards' disclosure topics and metrics. You'd be permitted to use ESRS, the GRI Standards and the TNFD disclosure metrics, as long as they don't conflict with ISSB requirements.
Reliefs
Nature-related scenario analysis can draw on reasonable and supportable information available without undue cost or effort, scaled to your skills, capabilities and resources. The vulnerability and alignment metrics get the undue cost or effort relief too.
There's also transition relief: no comparative information in the first annual period you apply the Practice Statement.
The TNFD's LEAP approach (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare; version 2.0, published in 2026) is suggested for identifying risks and opportunities. It's optional.
How it fits with TNFD, IFRS S2, ESRS and GRI
If you already report against the TNFD, you're in good shape. The ISSB says so directly, and it plans to publish a mapping between the Practice Statement and the TNFD recommendations. (If you need a refresher, our complete guide to the TNFD covers the framework and LEAP.)
The changes worth knowing:
- TNFD becomes a route into ISSB reporting. You could keep using the TNFD disclosure metrics, and continued TNFD reporting is, in the ISSB's words, a good way to prepare. The TNFD says its own technical work on assessment and disclosure is now complete, and it'll focus on supporting the ISSB.
- Nature and climate get reported together. The draft asks for connected information on climate and nature, since the same dependency (water stress, say) can carry both. It gives integrated scenario analysis and integrated transition plans as examples. Location detail still goes on top of what you report under IFRS S2.
- ESRS and GRI reporters get an efficient path. The ISSB designed the draft so companies applying ESRS or the GRI Standards can also apply the Practice Statement without doubling the work. If you report under CSRD, a lot of your ESRS E4 biodiversity material will probably carry over.
- SASB stays the first stop for metrics. As in IFRS S1, you must consider the SASB Standards. The IFRS Foundation's educational material on using SASB with IFRS S1 is a useful read here.
For the baseline requirements this sits on, see our guide to IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 requirements and examples.
What reporting teams should do now
Nothing is mandatory yet. But the draft shows where investor expectations on nature are heading, and some regulators may pick it up.
- Read the Snapshot first. The 11-page Snapshot gets you the shape of the proposals fast. Then go to the Exposure Draft for the actual wording.
- Check your IFRS S1 nature disclosures today. IFRS S1 already covers material nature-related risks. If water stress or deforestation is material for you and you say nothing about it, that's a gap now.
- Map your sites and suppliers to nature. Location is the biggest new ask. Start listing where your assets and key value chain activities sit, and which are in sensitive areas.
- Line up your climate and nature work. If you run climate scenario analysis under IFRS S2, see whether it can stretch to cover nature, rather than building a separate process.
- Reuse what you have. Pull together existing TNFD, ESRS E4, GRI and CDP water and forests data. Much of it will feed the new disclosures.
- Watch your jurisdiction. Jurisdictions can mandate the Practice Statement. Track what your regulator says after it's finalised (our overview of ISSB adoption by jurisdiction is a good starting point).
- Respond to the consultation. Comments close on 19 February 2027. The ISSB is asking whether this should be a Practice Statement or a Standard, so preparers' views on cost and feasibility count.
Frequently asked questions
Are the ISSB nature-related disclosures mandatory?
At ISSB level, no. You can state compliance with IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 without applying the Practice Statement, but a jurisdiction could choose to require it.
When is the ISSB nature consultation deadline?
Comments on Exposure Draft ISSB/ED/2026/1 close on 19 February 2027. You submit them through the ISSB's online survey.
What's the difference between an IFRS Practice Statement and a Standard?
The content and drafting are the same, and both go through full due process. You don't have to comply with a Practice Statement to claim compliance with ISSB Standards.
Does the ISSB nature exposure draft replace the TNFD?
It builds on it. The draft draws on the TNFD recommendations and metrics, lets you use the TNFD disclosure metrics, and the TNFD has said it'll now focus on supporting the ISSB.
Do I have to use the TNFD LEAP approach?
No. The draft suggests LEAP as one way to identify nature-related risks and opportunities, but you can use another process.
Who can apply the Practice Statement?
Companies that apply IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 at or before the date they first apply the Practice Statement. That date must be the start of an annual reporting period.
Will I need to disclose comparatives in year 1?
No. The draft gives relief from comparative information in the first annual period you apply it, in line with IFRS S1.
Sources
- IFRS Foundation: ISSB consults on its proposals for nature-related disclosures (22 October 2026)
- Exposure Draft ISSB/ED/2026/1: IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Practice Statement 1 Nature-related Disclosures
- Basis for Conclusions on the Exposure Draft
- Accompanying Guidance
- Exposure Draft Snapshot
- ISSB online comment survey
- Nature-related Disclosures project page
