SGX and ACRA climate reporting on the ISSB standards

Singapore’s climate reporting regime is built on the ISSB standards — IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 — and runs on two tracks: the SGX Rulebook for listed issuers, and ACRA for large non-listed companies. Both were re-phased by a joint ACRA and SGX RegCo release dated 25 August 2025, which pushed most deadlines back while keeping the baseline emissions disclosure in place.¹

What it is

For listed issuers the obligation sits in the SGX Rulebook. Mainboard Rule 711B, as amended on 1 January 2026, requires the sustainability report to describe the issuer’s practices with reference to material ESG factors, climate-related disclosures, policies, practices and performance, targets, the sustainability reporting framework, and a Board statement with the associated governance structure — and requires the climate-related disclosures component to comply with Practice Note 7.6.² Rule 711A sets the timing: the report goes to shareholders and the Exchange at the same time as the annual report, or, where the issuer has conducted external assurance on it, no later than 5 months after the end of the financial year.³

Practice Note 7.6, the Sustainability Reporting Guide, carries the substance. It requires the issuer to apply the climate-relevant provisions in IFRS S1 for the requirements applicable to it, and states that issuers are not required to make an explicit and unreserved statement of compliance with the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, though the Exchange permits and encourages issuers of any size to apply them fully.⁴ Where Scope 3 emissions are disclosed, the Practice Note requires them to be measured in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, subject to the reliefs specified and to the extent that this does not conflict with the ISSB standards; its cross-industry metric categories cover transition risk, physical risk, capital deployment and internal carbon prices.⁴

ACRA runs the second track for companies that are not listed, and states that it is developing local sustainability disclosure standards based on the ISSB Standards, on which its Interim Sustainability Standards Committee has consulted in draft.⁵

Who it binds

On the exchange side the requirements reach listed companies in three tiers — STI constituents, non-STI companies with a market capitalisation of S$1 billion and above, and those below that.¹ The rulebook instruments cited here are the Mainboard Rules 711A and 711B and Mainboard Practice Note 7.6, so the rule text described above is the Mainboard text.⁴

Off the exchange, ACRA’s requirements page, last updated 27 July 2026, states that listed companies and large non-listed companies need to comply from FY2025 and FY2030 respectively, and that a large non-listed company is one with annual revenue of S$1 billion and above and total assets of S$500 million and above. Such a company is exempted where its immediate, intermediate or ultimate parent prepares climate or sustainability reports using ISSB-based local reporting standards or equivalent standards and the company’s activities are included in the parent’s publicly available report.⁵

Dates

Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reporting is mandatory for all listed companies from FY2025 — the financial year commencing on or after 1 January 2025.¹ Practice Note 7.6, effective 25 August 2025, states this as a disclosure of Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions as set out in paragraph 29(a) of IFRS S2 from the financial year commencing on or after 1 January 2025 (FYC 2025).⁴

The remaining ISSB-based climate-related disclosures — applying all the requirements in IFRS S2 other than Scope 3 — apply from FYC 2025 for an issuer that was an STI constituent on 30 June 2025, from FYC 2028 for an issuer with a market capitalisation of S$1 billion or more, and from FYC 2030 for all other issuers.⁴ Scope 3 is mandatory for STI constituents from FY2026 and voluntary for other listed companies until further notice.¹ External limited assurance for Scope 1 and 2 was deferred to FY2029 for all listed companies, from the original FY2027.¹

For large non-listed companies, ISSB-based climate-related disclosures including Scope 1 and 2 were deferred to FY2030 from the original FY2027, Scope 3 remains voluntary until further notice, and external limited assurance for Scope 1 and 2 was deferred to FY2032 from the original FY2029.¹

Thresholds

Two of the three listed-company tiers are fixed on a single date. The STI-constituent requirements apply if a company is an STI constituent on 30 June 2025, even if it later ceases to be one; the S$1 billion tier applies to a company with that market capitalisation at close of market on 30 June 2025, or on its listing date if listed after that date, even if its market capitalisation later falls below S$1 billion.¹ In Practice Note 7.6 the same tiers appear as FYC 2025, FYC 2028 and FYC 2030 start years.⁴

For non-listed companies the threshold is a pair of financial tests, both of which must be met: annual revenue of S$1 billion and above, and total assets of S$500 million and above.⁵

Verification standard

Rule 711B requires the issuer’s sustainability reporting process to be subject to internal review, and states that the issuer may additionally commission an independent external assurance on the sustainability report.² That external step becomes mandatory later: ACRA states that external limited assurance for Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions is required from FY2029 for listed companies and from FY2032 for large non-listed companies.⁵

The assurance provider is constrained. ACRA states that the company must engage a registered climate assurance provider that is either an audit firm registered with ACRA or a testing, inspection and certification firm accredited by the Singapore Accreditation Council.⁵ The measurement standard for Scope 3 is named in the Practice Note as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, subject to the reliefs specified.⁴

What an organisation on ESGOS can do

An organisation in Singapore can find its listing in the directory and claim it from its profile page, or get listed and attach the evidence this regime produces: a sustainability report carrying the Scope 1 and 2 disclosures, the climate-related disclosures made under IFRS S2, and, once assurance applies, the limited assurance statement and the identity of the provider. The verifiers directory lists accredited verification bodies drawn from national accreditation registers. The exposure check at /en/exposure-check shows which regimes reach a given product and market.

Footnotes

1. Extended Timelines for Most Climate Reporting Requirements to Support Companies, Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority and Singapore Exchange Regulation. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Mainboard Rule 711B, Sustainability Report, Singapore Exchange. ↩ ↩²

3. Mainboard Rule 711A, Sustainability Report, Singapore Exchange. ↩

4. Updated Climate Reporting Requirements — Amendments to Mainboard Rules, Practice Note 7.6 Sustainability Reporting Guide, Singapore Exchange Regulation. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

5. Sustainability reporting and assurance requirements, Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵