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TAC Public Meeting June 2025: Meeting Summary
PUBLIC MEETING SUMMARY
Date: 10 June 2025 Time: 11:10am – 12:50pm Location: Financial Reporting Council, 13th Floor, 1 Harbour Exchange Square, London, E14 9GE
Attendance
| Name | Designation |
|---|---|
| Sally Duckworth | Chair |
| David Harris | Member |
| Harriet Cullum | Member |
| Hilary Eastman | Member |
| Jeremy Osborn | Member |
| Madeleine Evans | Member (online between 11:10am and 12:00pm) |
| Nick Rowbottom | Member |
| Peter Hogarth | Member |
| Scott Barlow | Member |
| Jenny Carter | Member appointed by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) |
| Paul Lee | Member appointed by the UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) |
| Mike Ashby | Observer from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) (online between 11:10am and 12:30pm) |
| Laura Kennedy | Observer from the Bank of England (BoE) |
| Matilda Robson | Observer from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) |
| Sarah-Jayne Dominic | Secretariat |
Apologies
| Name | Designation |
|---|---|
| Craig Mackenzie | Member |
| Supriya Sobti | Member |
1 Welcome and apologies
The Chair welcomed the attendees to the June meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
The Chair noted apologies from Craig Mackenzie and Supriya Sobti.
The Chair noted the following interests in agenda items:
- Hilary Eastman, member of an IEEE working group for developing a standard for an environmental liability process model for accounting in systems engineering.
- David Harris, employee of London Stock Exchange Group, which calculates and commercialises industry classification systems (ICB and TRCB).
2 General reporting update (agenda paper 2)
The Committee noted the June general reporting update.
3 IFRS S2 Proposed Amendments: Comment Letter
The Chair noted that the Agenda paper 3 includes the TAC's draft comment letter on the proposed amendments to IFRS S2.
The Committee tentatively approved the comment letter subject to comments including:
Jurisdictional reliefs
- Amending the TAC response to reflect that if an entity uses alternative measurement methods or global warming potential (GWP) values that significantly diverge from the GHG Corporate Standard and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) GWP values, respectively it should explain that fact and identify the parts of the entity that are affected.
Global Industry Classification Standard
- There is concern that mandating a single commercial classification system— such as GICS—could lead to a market monopoly and may raise jurisdictional or legal issues, particularly if it confers an unfair commercial advantage. There are also significant commercial risks that stakeholders might be vulnerable to the provider's investment decisions. For example, if the provider fails to continue investing in the classification system, is acquired, significantly increases pricing or ceases trading. In an evolving market, such a mandate may not be the best choice now, let alone for all sectors in the future. To provide decision-useful information given the complexity of many large businesses it would be preferable if the system they choose to adopt internally from the broad range on offer, which they may use for sustainability targets, was also the system they could use for IFRS S2 reporting purposes. This would also encourage competition and provide choice.
- Strengthening the section on GICS cost burdens by including the points about the cost of maintaining fragmented classification systems, the costs resulting from duplicative reporting and efforts required in reconciling outputs from fragmented classification systems.
- Revising the critique of the GICS hierarchy not meeting the requirements of paragraph 1 of IFRS S1 by clearly stating the TAC's support for option (d) of the hierarchy, which allows entities to classify counterparties by industry in a manner that results in decision-useful information for investors.
- Referencing the TAC's letter to the ISSB (January 2025), which reflects the TAC's position of not supporting the use of GICS in its IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 recommendations and endorsement advice to the UK Government.
- Strengthening the point regarding the questionable comparability benefits of GICS by noting that jurisdictional reliefs regarding GHG Protocol use and GWP values already undermine comparability of financed emissions disclosures. As such, mandating GICS may not achieve the intended global comparability.
- Clarifying that the TAC recommends classification systems that support an entity's strategic decision-making initiatives, including transition planning and net zero targets, and that are aligned with both regulatory and financial reporting requirements.
Scope 3 Category 15 greenhouse gas emissions relief
- Revise the TAC's position in the draft letter to state that for both derivatives and other financial activities, the TAC does not support the proposed requirement to disclose 'amounts'. Instead, the TAC recommends the disclosure of qualitative and/or quantitative information, as appropriate, that provides decision-useful insight into the entity's exposure to significant emissions.
The Committee authorised the Chair to finalise the comment letter, incorporating the matters discussed above. The Chair noted that the letter would subsequently undergo proofreading and formatting, after which it would be submitted to the ISSB and published on the FRC website.
4 IFRS S2 Proposed Amendments: Due Process Summary
The Chair noted that the Agenda paper 4 presents a brief summary of the due process followed in the development of the TAC's comment letter on the proposed amendments to IFRS S2.
The Committee tentatively approved the due process summary.
The Chair noted that the final due process summary will be tabled at the July meeting for approval.
5 AOB
There was no other business.
In closing, the Chair thanked everyone for joining the meeting and confirmed that the next meeting is scheduled for 8 July 2025.
The meeting ended at 12:50pm.
A private meeting with the ISSB was held between 1:30pm and 3:30pm. The key matter covered was an educational session on the SASB Standards and the upcoming consultation on the enhancement of the SASB Standards.