A response to Dopper’s: To B or not to B
June 3, 2022
The UK government published its finalised UK Sustainability Reporting Standards on 26 February 2026. Based closely on the IFRS Foundation’s ISSB standards, UK SRS S1 addresses general sustainability-related risks and opportunities, and UK SRS S2 focuses on climate-related risks and opportunities specifically.
“Voluntary today does not necessarily mean optional. UK SRS sets the direction clearly, and companies that start building aligned disclosures now will be in a much better position when mandatory requirements follow.”
says Sustainability Director Jatin Budhraja.
More about the standards
The standards are currently voluntary. The government has not set a mandatory adoption date, but has deliberately kept the door open for future requirements. Companies with UK operations should not read “voluntary” as “permanently optional.”
Difference to the ESRS
The key structural difference from the EU’s ESRS is materiality. UK SRS follows a single materiality approach, focused on how sustainability issues affect the company’s financial position. ESRS applies double materiality: both the financial risks to the company and the company’s impacts on the environment and society. For companies reporting under both frameworks, the underlying data overlaps considerably. Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions, climate scenario analysis, and transition planning are requirements under both. A well-structured reporting architecture can serve both without significant duplication.
UK SRS also sits alongside a wider family of IFRS S1 and S2-aligned standards, including Canada’s CSDS 1 and CSDS 2 and Singapore’s sustainability disclosure standards. Companies building for ESRS are already building for much of this.
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