SASB Standards reporting consulting for industry metrics investors can compare.

What it is

What are the SASB Standards and what are they used for?

The SASB Standards are a set of 77 industry-based standards that identify the sustainability-related matters most relevant to investor decisions in each industry, and specify how to measure and report them. Each one tells a company in a given industry which topics to consider and which metrics show its performance on them, so that two companies in the same industry can be compared on the same basis.

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), set up by the IFRS Foundation, is responsible for them and is maintaining and enhancing them. They sit inside the ISSB's own framework: IFRS S1 requires a company to refer to and consider the applicability of the topics and metrics in the SASB Standards, although it does not require the company to apply them, and the industry-based guidance that accompanies IFRS S2 is derived from them.

Current version. In December 2023 the ISSB amended the SASB Standards to improve their international applicability, replacing jurisdiction-specific references and definitions without significantly altering industries, topics or metrics. Exposure drafts in July 2025 and March 2026 proposed further amendments to twelve priority standards and targeted metric changes in 41 more industries; the ISSB is considering the feedback and has announced no effective date. Report against the version on the SASB Standards Navigator and record which one you used.

Who it is for

Who needs SASB Standards reporting?

No certificate hangs on SASB reporting; the demand comes from the people who read your disclosures. Companies come to Sterling for SASB Standards work from four starting points:

• Investors or lenders ask for industry metrics. Fund managers, banks and rating questionnaires ask for the SASB topics of your industry by name.
• You apply, or will apply, IFRS S1. Where your regulator or exchange has adopted ISSB-based rules, or you choose to apply them, you must consider the SASB topics and metrics when identifying risks and opportunities and deciding what to disclose.
• A parent company or group reporting cycle requires it. Group sustainability teams often ask subsidiaries and joint ventures for SASB metrics on a set template and timetable.
• Customers, tenders or a listing process expect it. Buyers in regulated and capital-intensive sectors, increasingly expect sustainability information that follows a recognised industry framework rather than a list of chosen indicators.

Requirements

What are the main SASB Standards requirements?

Every SASB Standard follows the same build, and each element sets a different task for the reporting team. The list below maps those elements in plain language; your disclosures are checked against the text of the industry standard you apply, metric by metric, during the programme.

• Industry description: confirm that the business models and activities described match your own, and choose the standard, or standards, that fit your revenue and operations.
• Disclosure topics: consider each sustainability-related risk or opportunity the standard names for your industry and decide, with reasons, which are relevant to your investors.
• Metrics: report performance on each relevant topic using the standard's quantitative and qualitative metrics, on the same basis every period.
• Technical protocols: apply the definitions, scope, implementation guidance and presentation rules that sit behind each metric, so the figure means what the reader expects.
• Activity metrics: disclose the measures of scale, such as production or customers served, that let readers normalise your data and compare it with peers.
• Link to IFRS S1 and IFRS S2: where you apply the ISSB Standards, document how the SASB topics and metrics were considered and how the IFRS S2 industry-based guidance was used for climate.

Reporting process

How do you report under the SASB Standards?

There is no audit to pass and no certificate at the end. The work is to identify the right standard, gather reliable data and publish disclosures that stand up to questioning. Sterling supports your team through each stage; any assurance conclusion belongs to an independent assurance provider.

1. 01
   Confirm the purpose, the reader and the industry.Establish whether you report voluntarily, for investors, for a group or under ISSB-based rules, and confirm the industry standard or standards that fit your activities.
2. 02
   Gap analysis: compare current data and reporting with the standard.The gap analysis tests existing reports, systems and records against each topic and metric, and agrees owners, sources and dates for what is missing.
3. 03
   Assess the topics and record the decisions.Consider each disclosure topic for relevance to investors, record management's conclusions and reasons, and fix the reporting boundary.
4. 04
   Build the metrics and draft the disclosures.Collect data, calculate each metric to its protocol, add activity metrics and write the explanatory narrative.
5. 05
   Review, approve and prepare for assurance.An internal review of the data trail and a management sign-off, then any assurance engagement your board or regulator requires, and a repeatable annual cycle.

Check the route before you sign. Anyone offering a "SASB certificate" is selling something the ISSB does not issue. Confirm the version of each industry standard on the SASB Standards Navigator at ifrs.org, and where you seek assurance, confirm the independence and qualifications of the assurance provider with the provider and its professional body. The certification buyer's checklist

Cost

How much does SASB Standards reporting cost?

The effort depends far more on the state of your data than on the length of the standard. What we can promise is a proposal in which every component is visible and nothing is added later.

Timeline

How long does SASB Standards reporting take?

A first report typically takes three to six months to reach a draft ready for review, measured from the gap analysis. Groups building new data flows across several sites sit at the upper end. Data has to cover the full reporting period, so the calendar sets limits that effort cannot shorten.

If an investor, a group deadline or a listing date drives the timing, tell us at the start. We will say which metrics can be ready and which should be phased in with a disclosed plan.

Your engagement

What your SASB Standards engagement includes

Your engagement runs on Sterling OS™. You choose the level of support: Design™, where our consultants guide your team through each step, or Drive™, where we manage the work and your people provide data and decisions. After the first report, Sustain™ keeps the annual cycle running and tracks ISSB amendments; Automate™ is Effivity, where the data, calculations and approvals live throughout.

• Scope, industry mapping and gap analysis

  The standards that apply, the entities in scope and a plan with owners and dates, agreed before work starts.

• Topic assessment and reporting policy

  Each topic considered with management, the decisions and reasons recorded, and a basis of preparation written.

• Effivity ISO & GRC software

  Your reporting programme runs in Effivity from day one, included with the engagement at no additional cost.

• Training for everyone

  Internal auditor training for your review team, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.

• Metric build and disclosure drafting

  Every metric calculated to its technical protocol, with the narrative that explains it.

• Internal review and assurance readiness

  A review of the data trail with findings closed, and support through any assurance engagement.

Sterling does not certify, attest or assure SASB disclosures; where assurance is sought, an independent assurance provider forms its own conclusion.

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with SASB Standards

• AA1000AA1000 implementation and requirements: apply the AccountAbility Principles and SES, then prepare for AA1000AS v3 assurance by a licensed provider.
• B Corp CertificationB Corp certification made clear: the new B Lab Standards, Foundation Requirements, seven Impact Topics, the audit route and how Sterling prepares you.
• CBAMCBAM compliance and requirements explained: authorised declarant status, the 50-tonne threshold, verified embedded emissions and how Sterling helps you prepare.
• CDPCDP disclosure consulting: a complete, evidenced response on climate, forests and water, prepared with your team.
• CSDDDCSDDD compliance and requirements after Omnibus I: scoping, risk-based due diligence, complaints, monitoring and the 2029 start, delivered in one all-inclusive proposal.
• CSRD / ESRSCSRD and ESRS Sustainability reporting consulting: double materiality, ESRS disclosures and data prepared for limited assurance of your statement.