© Securities and Exchange Commission
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has left the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), a group set up to harmonise environmental reporting regimes around the world, the latest blow to global efforts to push companies to go green.
The move comes as the ISSB has proposed amendments to reporting standards to make it easier for companies to apply requirements on the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions.
An ISSB spokesperson said the SEC has stepped down as a member of its jurisdictional working group and as an observer of a sustainability standards advisory group convened by the ISSB’s parent body.
The move follows the departure of the US Federal Reserve from the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) and President Donald Trump’s raft of attacks on efforts to address climate change.
The SEC already voted in March to end its defense of its own rules passed in 2024 requiring disclosure of climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions. Acting chair Mark Uyeda called the rules “costly and unnecessarily intrusive”.
The ISSB was set up by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation at Cop26 in 2021 to help consolidate environmental reporting regimes around the world and improve comparability for investors, regulators and other stakeholders.
US companies will still need to be alert to climate disclosure rules at state level and across the world, including from the ISSB, according to law firm Sidley Austin.
“We recommend that public companies continue to monitor the applicability of these climate disclosure regimes to their operations and, as necessary, continue to prepare for compliance,” the law firm wrote.
In relation to the proposed amendments to its climate-related disclosure rules, the ISSB said it was responding to market feedback.
It said the changes were aimed at making it easier to apply the standards while retaining their usefulness to investors, rather than reducing disclosures about emissions. The draft is open for comments until 27 June.
“Proposing these amendments to a relatively new standard is not a decision that was taken lightly – we have carefully considered the need for such amendments and have sought to balance the needs of investors while considering cost-effectiveness for preparers,” ISSB vice-chair Sue Lloyd said in a statement.
The amendments include relief from measuring and disclosing scope 3 emissions associated with derivatives and some financial activities, and clarification on when companies can use a measurement method other than the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for measuring emissions.
The board recently launched a tool to help financial regulators and other authorities to plan and design roadmaps to adopt sustainability reporting standards.
The ISSB says its work to develop sustainability disclosure standards is backed by finance ministers and central bank governors from more than 40 jurisdictions, as well as the G7, the G20, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions and the Financial Stability Board.
This page was last updated May 2, 2025
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Emma Thomasson is a British journalist, consultant and trainer based in Berlin. She is an expert in economics, politics, business and technology. She previously worked for Reuters as a correspondent and bureau chief in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, South Africa and the UK.
