The ISSB updates its digital taxonomy
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has opened a consultation on the first proposed update to its digital sustainability taxonomy, the XBRL tagging framework that lets companies mark up disclosures prepared under ISSB Standards for machine analysis.
The update is more of a fine-tuning than an overhaul. It brings the taxonomy into line with the small amendments the ISSB made to IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures in December 2025, which gave companies reliefs and clarifications on greenhouse gas emissions reporting after early adopters ran into practical difficulties applying the standard. The taxonomy change introduces no new requirements, nor does it alter whether a company complies with ISSB Standards; it simply ensures that once the amended IFRS S2 disclosures are being made, there are tags available to have them in a structured, comparable format.
A disclosure standard is only as useful to investors as their ability to work with what gets reported, and for sustainability data spread across thousands of companies and jurisdictions, that means digital tagging rather than trawling through PDFs. Keeping the taxonomy in step with the underlying standard is key maintenance work for usability. Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd framed the update as a continuation of last year’s effort: “This proposed update reflects the targeted amendments we made to IFRS S2 last year and will help ensure that investors can continue to efficiently analyse sustainability-related financial information reported in a digital format.”
Comments are due by 28 September 2026. Read more here.
