Update on UK Sustainability Reporting Standards: drafts released

Last May, we wrote about the then-latest update from the UK government around its plan to release drafts of UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (“UK SRS”). Those drafts were released on Wednesday, 25 June 2025, as part of a consultation that closes in mid-September. In this Quick Read, we explain the context to the UK SRS, look at what they contain and provide some key takeaways for companies.

Context

The UK SRS are intended to serve as the foundation for the UK government’s proposed sustainable finance framework to deliver credible and decision-useful sustainability-related financial information to the financial markets, first set out as part of the November 2024 Mansion House package.

The UK SRS are part of a phased approach to modernising the UK’s framework for corporate reporting, coming alongside other consultations on assurance-providers over such sustainability-related financial disclosures, as well as climate transition planning.

Content

As we previously wrote about, the UK SRS are based on the International Standards Stability Board (“ISSB”) Standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, which are intended to provide a global benchmark for reporting sustainability- and climate-related financial information, respectively. The UK is following suit among other countries that are transposing the ISSB Standards into national law or for in-country use (another recent example we wrote about was in Hong Kong).

The core content requirements of the ISSB Standards – and therefore the UK SRS – are organised into four thematic areas of governance, strategy, risk management and metrics and targets. At high level, the ISSB Standards / UK SRS require an entity to disclose sustainability-related risks and opportunities that could reasonably be expected to affect the entity’s prospects. Specific disclosures, for example, under the climate standard (IFRS S2 / UK SRS S2) cover climate resilience, greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related targets.

In the consultation, the UK government has prioritised international comparability – in line with the intent of the ISSB Standards – and therefore proposed only six amendments to reflect their use in a UK context. For example, the UK government is proposing that entities have discretion, when identifying their sustainability-related risks and opportunities, whether or not to additionally refer to the SASB Standards, rather than this being mandatory.

Next steps

Later this year, following the consultation, the UK government will publish finalised versions of UK SRS S1 and UK SRS S2 for voluntary use. Subsequently, the UK government and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will consider whether to introduce mandatory reporting using UK SRS.

Takeaways

As indicated above, the first iteration of the UK SRS is intended to be voluntary; however, this could change in the future. For steps companies can take to ready themselves to report in line with UK SRS, refer to our earlier briefing.

In particular, organisations that already currently report under the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”) framework, should be aware that there will be additional work to do in order to report under UK SRS. See our gap analysis here.

For more information or tailored advice, please contact kerry.stares@crsblaw.com or your usual Charles Russell Speechlys contact.