In October 2025, the ISSB’s task had evolved from creating standards to ensuring they worked seamlessly across borders. Speaking at the IFRS Sustainability Symposium in London on October 30, 2025, ISSB Chair Emmanuel Faber announced the expansion of the Jurisdictional Adopters Working Group, describing it as a “significant step” toward a Global Passport for sustainability reporting. The group now includes regulators from nearly 40 jurisdictions, representing around 40% of global capital markets, all working to integrate the IFRS S1 and S2 standards into their national disclosure systems. This “passporting” model aims to ensure that a company’s sustainability report prepared under ISSB-aligned standards in one market can be recognized in another. The concept is simple but transformative: reduce duplication, align rules, and allow data to travel as freely as capital.
The expansion reflects a growing reality that while global alignment is the goal, every market moves at its own pace. Even as dozens of countries have committed to adopt the ISSB standards, differences in scope, timing, and local regulations remain.
“The ISSB Standards are being firmly established as the global baseline,” said Faber. “We are committed to maximizing the benefits they offer to investors and preparers alike.”
Through this enhanced collaboration, the ISSB seeks to bridge those differences — creating a framework flexible enough to accommodate local needs, yet consistent enough to uphold global comparability.
Due to the increased acidity of the ocean, the ocean chemistry experiences massive changes that adversely affect not just aquatic beings but also the human population.
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To address these constraints, several jurisdictions are opting for gradual ISSB implementation, beginning with large, publicly listed companies before extending the requirements to mid-sized and smaller enterprises. The ISSB’s Global Passport framework supports this transition by enabling emerging markets to align progressively while maintaining consistency with the global baseline.
Due to the increased acidity of the ocean, the ocean chemistry experiences massive changes that adversely affect not just aquatic beings but also the human population.
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At Cognitud, we understand that organizations worldwide face diverse challenges in adopting global sustainability standards — from limited data infrastructure to the shortage of specialized ESG expertise. Our consultants work alongside regulators, businesses, and industry associations to strengthen sustainability reporting capabilities, helping organizations interpret and operationalize ISSB-aligned requirements with practical, context-specific solutions.
Through our advisory in decarbonization, climate risk assessment, and sustainability disclosure, we help companies move from fragmented compliance to integrated strategy. By combining technical training, process design, and capacity-building initiatives, Cognitud supports markets in aligning progressively with the ISSB’s Global Passport framework — ensuring that every step toward compliance also advances long-term resilience and sustainable growth.
What the ISSB is building through its Global Passport is more than a compliance framework — it is an infrastructure of trust. By aligning sustainability disclosure across jurisdictions, the initiative enables investors to compare performance beyond borders and gives companies a unified, credible way to tell their sustainability story.
As the passporting model matures, its success will depend on turning alignment into impact — making sustainability reporting not only global in reach but meaningful in substance.
Abhigyan Gupta
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The ISSB Standards are a set of global sustainability disclosure requirements developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). They provide a unified framework for reporting sustainability-related financial information, helping investors understand how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors affect a company’s performance and prospects.
The Global Passport Framework is an ISSB initiative that allows sustainability reports prepared using ISSB-aligned standards in one jurisdiction to be recognized in others. This “passporting” model reduces duplication, harmonizes disclosure rules across markets, and enables sustainability data to move across borders as easily as financial information.
Capacity-building refers to strengthening the skills, systems, and institutional capabilities needed for high-quality sustainability reporting. It includes training staff, improving data collection processes, developing governance structures, and enhancing analytical tools so that organizations—especially in emerging markets—can meet ISSB reporting requirements effectively.
The ISSB aligns global reporting by creating a consistent, comparable baseline for sustainability-related financial disclosures. It works with regulators, standard setters, and jurisdictions worldwide to integrate ISSB Standards into national reporting systems, reducing fragmentation across existing sustainability frameworks and ensuring coherence across markets.
IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, the first two ISSB Standards, became effective on January 1, 2024. Companies adopting the standards report against them for financial years beginning on or after this date.
