What are the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards?
Compliance managers and sustainability leads are increasingly being asked about UK SRS by auditors, investors, and procurement teams, often before any mandatory deadline has been confirmed. Understanding what the standards actually require, and how they differ from frameworks you may already report against, matters now if you are making decisions about data collection, carbon footprint scope, or how your reporting connects to financial statements.
Quick Answer: UK SRS (UK Sustainability Reporting Standards) are the UK government's official sustainability disclosure standards, comprising two standards: UK SRS S1 (general sustainability-related financial disclosures) and UK SRS S2 (climate-related disclosures). They are based on the ISSB's IFRS S1 and S2 standards, adapted for the UK context, and set out how companies should report sustainability risks and opportunities that could affect their financial performance. Reporting is currently voluntary but will form the foundation of future mandatory requirements.
What are the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards?
UK SRS are sustainability disclosure standards published by the UK government, currently available for voluntary use. They consist of two standards: UK SRS S1, which covers general sustainability-related financial information, and UK SRS S2, which covers climate-related disclosures specifically.
Both standards build on the ISSB's IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, which the ISSB issued in 2023 to create a global baseline for sustainability reporting. The UK government adapted these for the domestic context through a formal endorsement process managed by the Department for Business and Trade, making targeted amendments where needed to fit UK regulatory and reporting architecture.
The core purpose of UK SRS is to give investors and financial markets consistent, comparable, and decision-useful sustainability information. The focus is on financial materiality: companies disclose sustainability risks and opportunities that could reasonably affect their cash flows, access to finance, or cost of capital over the short, medium, or long term.
What do UK SRS S1 and S2 actually require?
Both standards are structured around four disclosure pillars that UK companies will recognise from the TCFD framework: governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets.
UK SRS S1 sets the overarching rules for sustainability-related financial disclosures. It asks companies to identify which sustainability topics are financially material, explain how those topics are governed and managed, and connect sustainability information directly to the financial statements. Where a climate or social risk is discussed in the narrative, S1 expects that risk to be visible in financial decisions, such as impairment assessments or cash flow projections, rather than treating it as a separate narrative exercise.
UK SRS S2 applies the same four-pillar structure specifically to climate. It requires companies to disclose how climate-related risks and opportunities, both physical risks (flooding, extreme heat) and transition risks (policy changes, technology shifts, shifting market demand), affect the business model and financial planning. Under S2, companies must disclose Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions, identify which Scope 3 categories are material to their operations, and report against those. Companies must also set out climate targets and explain how transition plans are being put into practice.
A one-year transitional relief allows companies to defer Scope 3 reporting to their second year of disclosure, giving time to build carbon footprint tracking processes before full reporting begins.
Is UK SRS currently mandatory?
UK SRS reporting is not currently mandatory
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