ISSB Launches Nature Disclosure Draft as EU Revised ESRS Nears Entry Into Force

ISSB Drops Nature Disclosure Draft at COP17 — and the Clock Is Ticking

The week of October 22, 2026 delivered one of the most significant milestones in sustainability reporting since the ISSB issued its original climate standard in 2023. Timed to coincide with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity's COP17 summit in Yerevan, Armenia, the International Sustainability Standards Board published the exposure draft of its proposed nature-related disclosure requirements — a document the board had been signaling for more than a year. According to ESG Today and the IFRS Foundation's own event page, the draft was formally released on October 22, 2026, opening a 120-day public comment window that closes on February 19, 2027.

What the ISSB Nature Draft Proposes

The exposure draft takes the form of an IFRS Practice Statement rather than a standalone standard — a deliberate choice the board made at its April 2026 meeting in Beijing, as reported by accountio.co.uk and onestopesg.com. That structure means application would be voluntary unless a jurisdiction mandates it, though ISSB Chair Emmanuel Faber has noted that nature-related disclosures are already implicitly required where material under IFRS S1. The draft draws heavily on the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework, including its LEAP methodology. Companies would need to disclose nature-related risks and opportunities, location-specific targets, and how those targets relate to applicable laws or regulation.

EU's Revised ESRS on the Doorstep

On the European side, the sustainability reporting landscape is also at an inflection point. The EU's revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards — streamlined under the Omnibus I package adopted by the European Commission on July 3, 2026 — are set to enter into force in November 2026, according to Bloomberg's October 2026 Global Regulatory Brief and the Linklaters ESG newsletter. The revised ESRS will formally apply to financial years beginning on or after January 1, 2027. As reported by iriscarbon.com, EFRAG released a draft XBRL taxonomy for the revised standards on September 17, 2026, with that consultation closing November 11, 2026; EFRAG then plans to deliver the final taxonomy to ESMA and the Commission before year-end.

The revised standards retain the climate financial-effects disclosure — renumbered from E1-9 to E1-11 under the revised ESRS — but cut roughly 60% of mandatory datapoints across the full standards set, per climate-x.com. Notably, the value-chain data cap introduced by Omnibus I does not extend to gross Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions metrics, meaning climate data demands on supply chains remain intact, per Cooley's analysis.

SEC Rescission Vote Still Pending

In the United States, the regulatory picture remains in a holding pattern. The SEC's comment period on its proposed rescission of the 2024 climate disclosure rules closed on August 3, 2026, per Pulsora's Q3 2026 roundup and modusalliance.com. As of mid-to-late October 2026, a final rescission vote has not yet occurred, though it is widely expected before the end of the year or in early 2027. California's SB 253, meanwhile, continues to advance independently — with the first Scope 1 and 2 reporting deadline now set for November 10, 2026, following a delay from the original August date.

Why It All Matters Now

The convergence of the ISSB nature draft, imminent EU ESRS enforcement, and the SEC's slow-motion withdrawal creates a diverging global landscape. Companies with cross-border operations face the unusual challenge of preparing for stricter, more granular EU requirements while watching US federal mandates evaporate. The ISSB nature exposure draft, open for comment through February 2027, now becomes the next major arena for corporate and investor engagement in the disclosure standards debate.