The Climate Expert is a five-volume primer series for young professionals working in climate, sustainability, and ESG. Each volume covers one region of the field in plain language: how it works, where it came from, what the law says, and what a careful professional should doubt. The series is published by Climate Expert Publication, an editorial collective committed to unbiased, knowledge-based information for students, young professionals, and everyone.
Between 2021 and 2024, the corporate sustainability disclosure stack consolidated around a common architecture - IFRS S1 and S2, the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, GRI, the GHG Protocol, and a new global assurance standard. Then in 2025 the political ground shifted: the SEC abandoned its climate rule, the EU Omnibus roughly halved the number of companies required to file ESRS reports, and anti-ESG legislation measurably reduced voluntary disclosure from US-listed companies. This volume explains both the architecture and the repricing. It is written for professionals who need to know what is on the current map, not the 2023 one.
Inside this volume:
- The four lines of descent that govern corporate sustainability disclosure: TCFD/ISSB, GRI, ESRS, and the GHG Protocol as shared accounting plumbing
- How IFRS S1 and S2 (effective 1 January 2024) absorbed the TCFD four pillars and what IFRS S2 adds that the original TCFD left flexible
- Financial materiality versus double materiality: what ISSB's single-materiality test and ESRS's double-materiality assessment are each designed to do, and why a dual filer runs both
- Scope 1, 2, and 3 mechanics: organisational-boundary rules, location-based versus market-based Scope 2, the fifteen Scope 3 categories, and PCAF's methodology for financed emissions
- The regulatory map after the repricing: IFRS S2 adoption across sixteen-plus jurisdictions, the EU Omnibus threshold changes, California SB 253 and SB 261 as the US backstop, and the UK FCA's SDR labels
- Greenwashing as an enforcement category: the SEC's three settled cases, the Frankfurt prosecutor's EUR 25 million DWS fine, UCPD 2024/825 in force, and the Green Claims Directive in limbo
- Assurance under ISSA 5000 - the first global sustainability assurance standard and what the phase-in from limited to reasonable assurance means in practice
- Five steelmanned critiques: the materiality wars, Scope 3's methodological limits, the greenwashing category problem, the disclosure burden debate, and the thin-signal risk in assurance on estimated data
Who this book is for:
- Sustainability and ESG professionals preparing or reviewing CSRD, IFRS S2, or GRI reports
- Auditors and assurance practitioners building sustainability assurance practices under ISSA 5000
- Finance graduates and analysts in investor relations, credit, or corporate treasury who need the disclosure vocabulary their roles now require
- Consultants and legal advisers working on ESG disclosure strategy, greenwashing risk, or regulatory compliance
Part of The Climate Expert series:
- Volume I: Foundations
- Volume II: Climate Risk
- Volume III: ESG Reporting and Disclosure (this book)
- Volume IV: Climate Law and Policy
- Volume V: Net Zero Strategy
Published by Climate Expert Publication.
