22 October 2024: UK Sustainability Disclosures Policy and Implementation Committee (PIC) – summary minutes
Updated 15 November 2024
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UK Sustainability Disclosures Policy and Implementation Committee (PIC)
Summary minutes of the 12th session of the PIC on 22 October 2024.
For more information on the remit and responsibilities of the Policy and Implementation Committee, see our Framework for developing UK Sustainability Reporting Standards, which is referred to as the ‘Framework Document’ in these minutes. Also in these minutes, ‘committee’ refers to the PIC. ‘The secretariat’ refers to the PIC secretariat, provided by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).
1. PIC and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) updates
The committee agreed to discuss options to provide guidance on the sustainability matters that entities would be required to disclose using existing UK legislation and how this aligns with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S1, alongside other means to support the interpretation of IFRS S1, in a future session.
The TAC secretariat provided an update on the TAC’s October meeting.
2. Reflections on the comparability of non-climate disclosures required by IFRS S1
The secretariat asked the committee for views on whether the use of IFRS S1 would lead to an increase in the comparability of reported information, given the potentially broad application of the standard.
The committee noted that IFRS S1-based disclosure would be inherently less comparable than IFRS S2 as IFRS S1 covers general sustainability and IFRS S2 is focused on climate, but that there may be increased comparability as practice evolves.
It was also noted that the development of international accounting standards also began with broader and more conceptual standards, subsequently followed by more targeted standards, and that this evolutionary approach is typical.
3. Climate scenarios
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) presented an update on this workstream, which sought views on the references to scenario analysis in IFRS S2. This followed the first discussion held in the April committee session.
The committee discussed the topic, including considering the views of the TAC, which discussed scenario analysis in its October meeting.
4. Due process of external documents referenced in IFRS S1 and IFRS S2
The secretariat presented a paper which considered the importance of appropriate due process on documents in International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards, not developed by the ISSB, which entities are required to use or to refer to.
In IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol fall into this category.
The committee agreed the importance of thorough due process over all documents which entities are required to use or to refer to. The committee also discussed the current use of the SASB standards and the GHG Protocol in the UK.
5. Any other business, actions and next steps
The secretariat noted that forthcoming committee sessions would begin to consider implementation-orientated items as well as concluding endorsement work streams.