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If you work in ESG or sustainability reporting, 2026 is...
If you work in ESG or sustainability reporting, 2026 is probably the year your spreadsheets have started to feel personal. Assurance is kicking in, “voluntary” is disappearing from the vocabulary, and regulators are no longer impressed by best-effort narratives without hard numbers behind them.
Not everyone reading this will be wrestling with all of these frameworks at once. You might be an in-house reporter at a listed company working to a single regulator’s rulebook, a consultant juggling obligations across multiple clients and jurisdictions, or a sustainability lead at a multinational trying to understand where your group exposure sits. Wherever you are, the picture in 2026 is the same: the rules have become more specific, the timelines are firmer, and the expectation of independently verified data is no longer a future-state aspiration.
2026 is less about inventing new ESG stories and more about turning the stories you already tell into assured, regulator-ready disclosures. The frameworks differ in their scope and architecture, but the pressure they create is the same: get your data in order, get the right people in the room, and treat reporting as an organizational discipline rather than an annual publishing exercise.
Over the past few years, BRSR has moved from a new acronym to the default ESG template for listed companies in India. By 2026, the transition phase is largely over and assessment or assurance, along with value chain coverage, will be the real story.
SEBI’s BRSR Core focuses on a tight set of high-impact metrics covering energy and emissions, water, social indicators like gender diversity and wages, and governance disclosures. These are meant to be assessed or assured, rather than just reported. SEBI’s revised guidance now uses the phrase “assessment or assurance approach,” giving companies the flexibility to choose between having their data assessed or formally assured.
The phased BRSR reporting roadmap means most large companies have already worked through some level of verification, but expectations keep stepping up. For FY 2025-26, the top 500 listed entities must mandatorily undertake assessment or assurance of BRSR Core KPIs, with the requirement extending to the top 1,000 from FY 2026-27.
There is an important update on value chain disclosures. SEBI’s revised timeline makes these voluntary for FY 2025-26, with the corresponding assessment or assurance obligation also voluntary from FY 2026-27. There is currently no confirmed date for when these will become mandatory.
That means companies should not treat the extra time as a reason to stand still. Regulators expect you to be doing the groundwork, covering supplier engagement, data system design, and pilot disclosures, so that you are genuinely ready when the obligation arrives.
If you are reporting in India in 2026, your to-do list looks something like this:
Treat BRSR Core as an assessment or assurance project, not just a disclosure template. Design your data collection so that it can be independently tested. Start with the Core KPIs and map exactly which systems feed each data point, from greenhouse gas numbers to social indicators. Use FY 2025-26 to pilot voluntary value chain disclosures and get the internal processes right before the obligations are formalized. The reporters who will sleep easier by filing season 2027 are the ones who treat 2026 as the year they industrialized BRSR data flows, especially for vendors and subsidiaries.
CSRD has been on everyone’s slide decks for years, but 2026 is when it crystallizes into actual publication dates, audit scoping meetings, and XHTML files with XBRL tags. ESG reporting in Spain, as in the rest of the EU, you now have firm answers to two key questions: do we fall in scope, and which year is our first CSRD report?
Spain’s transposition of CSRD follows the EU four-wave model. From reports published in 2026 for financial year 2025, a broader set of large companies that hit two of three thresholds, namely balance sheet size, net turnover, and number of employees, are in the regime. Later waves will bring in more companies in 2027 and beyond, including some non-EU parents with significant EU operations.
For reporters on the ground, 2026 is the year when the theoretical ESRS architecture becomes a very practical challenge. You need to ask whether you can actually produce the required data at the level of quality your auditor needs. That covers climate metrics under ESRS E1, social and governance disclosures, and any Spanish-specific expectations for biodiversity or sector add-ons.
If you are reporting under CSRD in Spain in 2026, focus on three things. First, finalize your double materiality assessment and document the process well enough that your auditor and regulator can follow the logic. Second, prioritize the most complex ESRS areas, such as climate, pollution, and workers in the value chain, where data models are demanding, and internal ownership is fragmented. Third, get comfortable with the digital side, as XHTML, XBRL tags, and cross-linking to your financial statements are now expected to meet the same level of rigor as the numbers themselves.
CSRD quickly exposes any disconnect between finance, sustainability, operations, and IT. The more you can bring those functions around a single 2026 timeline, the smoother your first filing will be.
In Singapore ESG reporting, 2026 is the year the climate reporting story stops being mainly about frameworks and starts colliding with the carbon tax and investor expectations. The country has laid out a phased adoption of ISSB-aligned standards, starting with the largest listed companies and high-emitting sectors.
Straits Times Index constituents and other large listed companies are expected to provide climate-related disclosures in line with IFRS S2. Scope 1 and 2 coverage comes first, with Scope 3 ramping in later years and formal assurance requirements starting further out in the decade. At the same time, facilities that exceed the carbon tax threshold, currently set at 25,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, must provide verified emissions data that connects directly to their tax exposure under Singapore’s rising carbon price trajectory.
For reporters, that means 2026 is less about crafting a climate narrative and more about connecting three storylines in a way that holds together under scrutiny. The first is governance and risk disclosures in the annual report. The second is detailed emissions and transition plan data in sustainability reports aligned with ISSB. The third is carbon tax reporting that can withstand scrutiny from both the tax authority and investors.
The questions worth asking now are: have you clearly assigned ownership for climate data between finance, tax, sustainability, and operations? Can you trace a clean line from your ISSB-style transition plan and scenario analysis to the numbers that determine your carbon tax bill? And are you designing your 2026 report to be assurance-ready, even if limited assurance on climate becomes mandatory only later? The differentiator this year is integration. Investors and regulators in Singapore are increasingly sceptical of climate plans that do not reconcile with actual emissions figures and capital expenditure.
The UK is moving ahead with its own version of sustainability reporting: UK Sustainability Reporting Standards, built on ISSB but tailored to the local regulatory and capital markets context. From 2026, large organizations and central government bodies are expected to comply with UK SRS, with thresholds framed around employee numbers and income. Note that final implementation guidance is still being confirmed in places, so staying close to FRC updates through the year is worthwhile.
Unlike CSRD, UK SRS is rooted in single financial materiality. The emphasis is on information that is useful for investors, covering climate risks and opportunities, Scope 1 to 3 emissions, and how these link to your financials. If you have been reporting under TCFD, many of the themes will feel familiar, but the required granularity and consistency will step up considerably.
The big 2026 job for reporters is translation. That means mapping from existing TCFD reports to the structure and disclosure requirements of UK SRS S1 and S2, identifying the gaps where previous narrative disclosures need to be backed by more systematic data, especially for Scope 3, and working with finance teams so that sustainability and financial reporting timetables and controls start to align.
If you are in scope for UK SRS, your 2026 agenda should include building a joint roadmap with finance. Decide which datasets will be treated as financial-grade for the first time, what controls and reviews are needed, and how quickly you can industrialize data flows without overwhelming business units.
Malaysia is using the period from 2025 to 2027 as a phased on-ramp for more robust ESG reporting, aligning Bursa’s requirements with emerging global standards and IFRS sustainability rules. Companies with a market capitalization above RM2 billion moved first, with other Main Market issuers following in 2026 and ACE Market issuers by 2027.
For reporters in 2026, this means two overlapping pressures. The first is the exchange’s upgraded disclosure expectations, particularly around climate and governance. The second is the practical challenge of building systems in organizations that may never have produced this level of non-financial detail before.
Your key tasks this year are to translate Bursa guidance into a concrete list of data points, owners, and evidence requirements; prioritize climate-related disclosures such as emissions, targets, transition plans, and governance changes that signal seriousness to both regulators and investors; and use the transition period to pilot internal processes, from templates and sign-off workflows to audit trails, rather than waiting until the final year.
In many Malaysian companies, ESG reporters will be the bridge between global expectations from investors, lenders, and export markets and local operational realities. 2026 is a good year to push for more formal ESG roles, committees, and budgets before the full regime arrives.
For years, ESG reporting across the Gulf Cooperation Council sat in an awkward middle ground. Regulators issued guidance, exchanges published frameworks, and companies ticked voluntary disclosure boxes without real accountability behind them. 2026 is the year that changes, at least in the more active parts of the region.
The most significant development is in the UAE. Under Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2024, qualifying companies face mandatory sustainability disclosure obligations from 30 May 2026, with financial penalties for non-compliance starting at AED 50,000 and rising to AED 2,000,000 for repeat violations. The multi-layered nature of UAE regulation means you need to establish which rules apply to your entity, as requirements differ across DFM and ADX-listed companies, ADGM and DIFC-registered firms, and sector-specific mandates for financial institutions. The common thread across all of them is alignment with GRI and ISSB standards, Scope 1 and 2 emissions data, and climate risk governance disclosures.
In Kuwait, Boursa Kuwait’s updated 2026 ESG Disclosure Guide reflects a new CMA requirement for Premier Market-listed companies to begin publishing sustainability reports this year, covering FY2025 data. In Qatar, the story runs on two tracks. The Qatar Central Bank has introduced mandatory ESG reporting for banks and regulated financial institutions, with the first submissions based on 2025 data. The Qatar Financial Markets Authority has also moved all QSE-listed companies toward mandatory disclosures aligned with ISSB’s IFRS S1 and S2 standards.
Saudi Arabia remains the notable exception in the region. Full mandatory ESG reporting is not yet universal, but the direction of travel is clear. In 2025, the CMA formalized a framework for green and sustainability-linked debt instruments requiring ESG disclosures from issuers, and among the top 100 Tadawul-listed companies by revenue, a growing majority now publish sustainability reports. Voluntary is quietly becoming expected.
If you are reporting for a GCC entity in 2026, three practical points stand out.
The UAE deadline of 30 May 2026 is the most immediate hard date in the region. If your entity is in scope and you are not already in preparation, the window is short. Establish your regulatory layer first, whether federal, exchange, or free zone, because requirements differ and there is no single unified rulebook yet.
For Qatar and Kuwait reporters coming to ISSB-aligned disclosure for the first time, the frameworks themselves are not the hard part. Scope 1 and 2 emissions data, governance structures around climate risk, and scenario analysis are where most organizations find the gaps. Start there.
Saudi Arabia reporters are not off the hook. The gap between voluntary and mandatory is closing, and companies accessing green finance or sustainability-linked instruments already face disclosure requirements. Using 2026 to build the infrastructure, covering data systems, internal ownership, and board-level governance, means you will not be scrambling when the formal mandate arrives.
The GCC’s ESG story is also inseparable from the national visions driving it. UAE Net Zero 2050, Saudi Vision 2030, and Qatar National Vision 2030 mean regulators across the region are motivated to keep tightening requirements. What looks like an early-adopter advantage today will be baseline compliance within a few years.
In California, climate disclosure is moving from a niche investor request to a legal obligation that many large companies, including non-US parents with sizeable California operations, cannot ignore. Two laws are especially relevant to reporters in 2026. SB 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, covers Scope 1, 2, and eventually Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. SB 261 requires biennial climate-related financial risk reports.
SB 253 carries a confirmed first reporting deadline of 10 August 2026 for emissions data, with some nuance depending on your financial year-end. Limited assurance on Scope 1 and Scope 2 applies from this first cycle, though for this inaugural cycle companies may rely on best-available data, and where formal assurance has not yet been obtained, that flexibility is recognized. The California Air Resources Board has signaled that good-faith effort will be considered in any enforcement approach.
SB 261 originally required the first climate risk reports on or before 1 January 2026, but the law is currently subject to active litigation in the Ninth Circuit. Enforcement is effectively paused pending the outcome. CARB has indicated it will set a revised deadline once the legal proceedings conclude. Companies should monitor this closely rather than treating the January date as a firm obligation or dismissing the requirement entirely.
For reporters caught by California revenue thresholds, 2026 is the year to lock down your greenhouse gas inventory methodology and documentation so an assurance provider can test it. You should also coordinate your narrative climate risk reporting under SB 261 with the hard numbers in your emissions disclosures under SB 253, to avoid obvious inconsistencies when both are eventually published, and clarify which parts of the organization are in scope based on revenue and where data needs to be pulled from across geographies.
California’s rules are also setting a precedent for other US states. What you build for 2026 will probably be reused and extended, not discarded.
Regardless of which jurisdiction you are working in, a few practical moves apply broadly.
Build a 2026 reporting calendar that works backwards from your filing deadline, with explicit milestones for data cut-offs, internal reviews, and assurance sign-off. Run a mini assurance rehearsal by picking three to five of your most material metrics and asking whether you can show sources, calculations, and sign-offs as if an auditor were in the room. And use this year to educate the rest of the organization, as boards, finance teams, risk committees, and procurement often still underestimate how much 2026 changes their roles.
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About the author
Director – Projects & Value Chain at SAM Corporate LLC
Follow the expert:
Rajagopal Kannan is the Director of Projects & Value Chain at SAM Corporate LLC, leading ESG, risk management, and sustainability initiatives. With over 20 years of experience, including a decade in banking and financial risk, he specializes in credit structuring, Basel II & III, ISO 31000, COSO ERM, internal audit, and regulatory compliance under CBUAE, DFSA, ADGM, and SCA.
His current focus lies in ESG integration, climate and sustainability risk management, and value chain sustainability. A GRI-certified Sustainability Professional and GARP-certified SCR holder, he also holds multiple global credentials including PRM®, GRCP, GRCA, CRCMP, CBiiiPro, CSM, and CISI Level 3.
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