Thailand Launches Mandatory ISSB-Aligned Sustainability Reporting for Public Companies

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the publication of new regulations requiring listed companies to provide sustainability and climate-related reporting aligned with the IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards.

Reporting requirements under the new regulation will begin in 2028, covering the 2027 year, for the largest companies, and be phased in through 2031 for other listed companies and investment entities.

The new regulation marks a significant shift towards enabling standardized sustainability reporting for public companies. The SEC has required listed companies to disclose information on ESG performance, governance, human rights, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as part of their annual reporting since 2022, but did not rely on a single standard, instead allowing companies to utilize external frameworks, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards or TCFD recommendations.

In 2024, the SEC launched a consultation to explore shifting sustainability reporting to the IFRS standards, to improve international alignment and enable more consistent and comparable data.

The ISSB released its inaugural general sustainability and climate reporting standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, respectively, in June 2023. To date, more than 45 jurisdictions have started the process to use the standards.

Under the new regulations, constituents of SET50, the 50 largest companies on the Stock Exchange of Thailand will begin ISSB-aligned reporting in 2028 (on 2027 data), followed by SET100 companies in 2029, all other SET-listed in 2030, and all listed companies on the secondary mai exchange as well as REITs, IFFs, IFTs, and PFs.

The regulations also include a requirement for GHG emissions disclosure to be verified by assurance providers in accordance with internationally accepted assurance standards.

The new regulations include a series of transition reliefs to support companies’ development of data systems and capabilities, including exemption from comparative information in the first year of reporting the disclosure of climate-related information, flexibility in the reporting timeframe, use of equivalent GHG emissions, calculation standards and exemption from disclosure of Scope 3 GHG emissions during the initial period of implementation.