On 31st January 2022, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) was consolidated into the IFRS Foundation to support the work of the newly established International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). While this site and its resources remain relevant for preparers looking to improve sustainability disclosure until such time as the ISSB issues its IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards on such topics, no further work or guidance will be produced or published by CDSB. For further information please visit the IFRS website.

Corporate reporting on social issues

Open public consultation is underway on expanding the scope of the CDSB Framework to include material social information. Have your say!

The consultation period has ended. You can read the consultation report here. 

About the Consultation

In July 2021, CDSB published a position paper on social reporting and determined the benefit of expanding the scope of the CDSB Framework to include social as well as environmental information. This decision was made for three key reasons. First, the importance of social information to companies, investors and regulators in their decision-making continues to grow and increasingly poses material risks and opportunities to organisations. Second, the significance of the connections between environmental and social issues and the resultant businesses effects are being better understood, demonstrating the need to comprehend and report on these matters in an interlinked manner. Finally, there is presently no reporting framework for social information that is definitively committed to the principles, approaches, and structure of the mainstream report, as the current version of the CDSB Framework does for environmental and climate change information.

This consultation draft of the expanded CDSB Framework for reporting environmental and social information presented below seeks to respond to these three factors. The updated version of the CDSB Framework is hoped to assist in the development of higher-quality and more decision-useful environmental and social disclosures, benefitting both report preparers and users. The consultation draft below integrates social information into the market-tested and well-aligned reporting principles and requirements of the CDSB Framework, offers specific guidance for reporting on social issues in the mainstream report, and more generally seeks to add detail and clarity to several areas of the framework.

New additions from the current version of the CDSB Framework for this consultation draft are coloured blue for ease of understanding. In addition to this consultation draft, a basis for conclusions is available here. The basis for conclusions offers further detail on overarching ideas that have guided the development of the consultation draft and more specific explanations of social changes throughout.

How to respond

  1. Download the draft CDSB Framework. For more context, download the Basis for conclusions.
  2. Send your comments by email to . The consultation closes on 20 January, 2022.

Comments are to be submitted by email in English to   with a subject title ‘Consultation Response – [Organisation/Person]’. The deadline for submissions is 20th January 2022, though we do encourage submissions as soon as possible.

We welcome comments specific to the questions below as well as more general and editorial comments on the consultation draft. Comments are most helpful when it is clear to which element of the framework they refer, the rationale for them is explained, and specific suggestions for changes are made.

All submissions of comment will be made available on the CDSB website within one month of the close of the consultation, as will a consultation summary report.

Consultation questions:

  1. Do you agree with objectives and expanded scope of the CDSB Framework?
  2. Do you believe the principles will effectively support the disclosure of high-quality, decision-useful environmental and social information?
  3. Do you believe the reporting requirements will effectively support the disclosure of high-quality, decision-useful environmental and social information?
  4. Do you believe that the principles and reporting requirements will effectively support the disclosure of well-connected environmental and social information?
  5. Do you agree with the definitions used, particularly those relating to social?
  6. Do you agree with the determination of income inequality as a systemic risk relevant to all companies? Do you believe the disclosure on the provision of living wage for workers is an appropriate and useful disclosure?
  7. Any other comments?

Read also: CDSB's discussion paper examines our approach to the disclosure of financially material social information.

Challenges exist with the present practices of reporting consistent, comparable, decision-useful information on social issues, particularly for material social issues in the mainstream report. The challenge is not necessarily one of volume of data, but more one of quality, rigour, and context of that information.

CDSB is setting out to expand the scope of its reporting framework and technical work to suitably accommodate financially material social issues. This will see CDSB provide the market with the framework for TCFD-style reporting across all financially material social and environmental issues and offer companies the means of reporting decision-useful information that meets ever-developing needs and expectations of users.

Read CDSB's position paper, Corporate reporting on social matters.