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.

Financial accounting standards

CDSB works with the accounting profession and financial accounting standards to promote the alignment of financial and non-financial information

Accounting standards have been developed over hundreds of years and have contributed to shaping modern business models. As our economy evolves, we believe it is fundamental to account for the contribution of natural capital resources for the global financial system.

What we do

Currently, there are gaps in climate, environmental and sustainability reporting generally. These gaps derive from a lack of standardised methodologies for preparing and presenting relevant information, resulting in multiple interpretations of terms and variation in the quality and quantity of information produced by companies.

Financial reporting, accounting standards and guidance provide an established, recognised and widely used infrastructure for preparing financial statements and management commentary. As such, each term used in financial statements can be interpreted according to the definitions produced by well-established institutions like the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and national accounting standard setters.

Our work aims to harness the knowledge and strength of existing financial accounting standards to improve the way climate change, environmental and natural capital information is reported.

CDSB works to fill gaps in sustainability reporting by considering how the infrastructure of financial accounting, reporting standards and guidance could be adapted and used for climate, natural capital and environmental information reporting through mainstream channels.

Resources

Uncharted waters: how can companies use financial accounting standards to deliver on the TCFD recommendations?

This paper is designed to drive conversations about how companies can use the accounting standards to deliver on the TCFD recommendations, focusing mainly on IFRS 7 and 9. It provides an overview of the main challenge that the adoption of the recommendations entails: how to integrate climate-related financial disclosures with existing reporting models and financial accounting standards. With a specific focus on IFRS 7 and 9, we provide an introduction about the mainstream financial reporting model, asking the critical questions that could guide companies in the process of implementing the recommendations.

Read the paper

Who we work with

  • ACCA
  • ICAEW
  • IFAC
  • AICPA
  • CPA Canada
  • UK Financial Reporting Council
  • Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand.

We also support the work of the following organisations:

  • International Accounting Standards Board
  • Accountancy Europe
  • CFA institute
  • European Financial Reporting Advisory Group