On October 22, 2026, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) published its proposed nature-related disclosure requirements as an exposure draft. The 120-day comment period closes on February 19, 2027. The draft was released during the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17).
Under IFRS S1, companies are already required to disclose material information about sustainability-related risks and opportunities, including those related to nature. But S1 and S2 contain no nature-specific requirements. The draft sets out what that disclosure should actually contain.
A "Practice Statement," not a "Standard"
The defining feature is the form. The ISSB has proposed the requirements not as a new Standard but as IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Practice Statement 1.
ISSB Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd explained that many companies are applying S1 and S2 for the first time, and the board balanced the need to give time for implementation against investor demand for nature information. The ISSB is also asking whether the requirements should be finalised as a Practice Statement or issued in another form, such as a Standard.
The Practice Statement could be used from its publication date, and compliance can be claimed only if all requirements are followed. A transition relief exempts companies from disclosing comparative information in the first year of application.
What would be disclosed
The draft follows the structure of S1 and S2 (governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets) and adds nature-specific elements.
Location
Consider the location of assets and activities across the value chain, and the nature-related characteristics of those places, both when identifying risks and opportunities and when disclosing them. The accompanying guidance includes four illustrative examples.
Indigenous Peoples and local communities
Consider engagement and other interactions with Indigenous Peoples, local communities and affected stakeholders, and identify the people the disclosures cover.
Scenario analysis
Show the resilience of strategy and business model based on nature-related scenario analysis. The same reliefs as in IFRS S2 apply.
Share of at-risk assets
The amount and percentage of assets and business activities vulnerable to nature-related risks, and those aligned with opportunities. Aligned with the IFRS S2 climate metrics; no need to separate physical and transition risks.
Targets
For each nature-related target the company has set or is required to meet by law or regulation, disclose its scope, location-related aspects and relationship to the law or regulation.
The difference from climate disclosure lies in the treatment of "place." Nature-related risks such as water stress and deforestation vary sharply with the location of sites and suppliers. The draft asks for this location information consistently, from the identification process through to the metrics.
Relationship with the TNFD
In developing the draft, the ISSB drew extensively on the framework of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). The TNFD's LEAP approach (version 2.0, published in 2026) can be used to identify risks and opportunities but is not mandatory. For metrics, companies must refer to the SASB Standards, and may refer to the TNFD disclosure metrics, the ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) and the GRI Standards.
The ISSB says companies that have reported in line with the TNFD should find it easy to move to the Practice Statement, and plans to publish a mapping between the two. For more on the TNFD framework, see our guide to the TNFD LEAP approach.
What it means for corporate planning and sustainability teams
- The mandate decision moves to jurisdictions: the Practice Statement is voluntary, but if a jurisdiction incorporates it into national standards and requires its use, it becomes a de facto obligation. How the countries and regions that adopted S1 and S2 treat the nature requirements is the next thing to watch
- Location data becomes an up-front investment: factories, suppliers and raw material origins need to be mapped against nature-related characteristics (water stress, proximity to protected areas and so on). Site-level information carries more weight than in climate disclosure
- Designed to work alongside GRI and ESRS: the ISSB says it has taken care that companies applying the Practice Statement together with the GRI Standards or the ESRS can do so efficiently. Companies reporting under the revised ESRS in Europe should check early how much of the same data they can reuse
- A chance to comment: comments close on February 19, 2027. The questions include whether the Practice Statement form is appropriate or whether it should be a Standard