The direction of travel on corporate reporting has moved towards clearer, more decision‑useful and internationally coherent sustainability information.

What makes this shift distinct is its focus on end‑users. Regulators and standard‑setters are converging on a common objective – ensuring that the sustainability information companies disclose is genuinely useful for investors, lenders, regulators and other stakeholders. Much of this has centred on the concept of financial materiality, embedded in the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) framework and now forming the backbone of several major jurisdictional reforms.

UK and international developments

A number of developments illustrate the scale and pace of this quiet transformation:

• UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS)
  On 25 February 2026, the UK Government published the UK SRS, enabling ISSB‑aligned disclosures to be embedded into the UK’s corporate reporting framework. These standards emphasise disclosures that focus on financially material sustainability risks and opportunities, improving comparability and usability for report users.
• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) consultation (CP26/5)
  The FCA is consulting on integrating UK SRS requirements into the listing regime. Under the proposals, listed companies would be required to provide certain climate-specific UK SRS disclosures from 2027, and report on non-climate sustainability issues from 2029 on a comply‑or‑explain basis.
• Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) expectations
  In December 2025, the PRA published SS 5/25, outlining expectations for banks and insurers on climate‑related risk management and their engagement with the UK SRS framework. This reinforces the message that high‑quality sustainability information is essential for risk identification and supervision.
• European Union reforms
  The EU maintains some of the world’s most thorough sustainability reporting requirements, implementing the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). However, recognising reporting burden concerns, the EU agreed measures in 2025 to simplify disclosure requirements and narrow application thresholds, maintaining ambition while improving proportionality.
• United States developments
  The Security and Exchange Commission’s 2025 proposed Climate-related Disclosure Rule faced immediate legal challenges and has been paused. Nevertheless, progress continues at the state level – California has introduced mandatory climate disclosure rules, and New York is also in the process of adopting their own frameworks.  
• China’s new climate disclosure rules
  From this year, China has issued its own mandatory climate disclosure requirements, continuing its trajectory towards more structured and investor‑relevant sustainability reporting. These rules are expected to significantly increase transparency across one of the world’s largest corporate markets and contribute to global reporting convergence.
• Developments in other major jurisdictions
  As of June 2025, IFRS announced 36 jurisdictions have adopted or otherwise used the ISSB Standards or are in the process of finalising steps towards introducing them into their regulatory frameworks. These standards include ASRS (Australia), CSDS (Canada) and SSBJ (Japan).

Materiality remains central

Across all these reforms, materiality has been a defining theme. ISSB and UK SRS focus on financial materiality, while the EU’s CSRD overlays impact materiality through its double‑materiality framework. Even where the jurisdiction is not using a pure financial materiality lens, the trend over the past year has been toward producing information that is relevant to the market.

Looking ahead: UK Finance’s Key Conversation conference

To support firms navigating these developments, UK Finance will host Key Conversation: Sustainability Reporting and Transition Plans on 21 April. This exciting half‑day conference will convene policymakers, regulators, standard‑setters and industry leaders to explore UK SRS, transition planning, climate‑risk management, nature‑related reporting and assurance considerations.