Toa Payo: PonteSud – News Desk
The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) has proposed extending the deadline for small and mid-sized companies listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to comply with the latest sustainability disclosure requirements by one to two years.
Under SGX Regulation’s (SGX RegCo) prevailing sustainability reporting regime, all listed companies have to make climate-related disclosures aligned with standards developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) for financial years that start from Jan 1, 2025.
Only 4 % out of 40 listed companies polled by SBF and SGX RegCo between April and May in 2025 were very confident about meeting this timeline, even though all the engaged listed companies were already preparing for ISSB disclosures.
More than 90 % of them said extending the timeline for mandatory ISSB disclosures by one or two years would be useful for them to prepare higher-quality sustainability reports. They added that a time extension would not detract them from the work they had already begun.
SBF chief executive Kok Ping Soon said: “This does not represent a step back from Singapore’s climate-reporting ambitions, but is a practical measure to provide smaller listed companies more time to strengthen internal capabilities and incorporate best practices after larger listed companies make their ISSB disclosures for financial year 2025.”
While preparations for ISSB climate reporting are under way, a deadline extension would enable small- and mid-cap companies to, for example, prepare subsidiaries that may be based overseas. It would strengthen data collection systems and enable these smaller businesses to take guidance from the FY2025 ISSB reports by larger listed companies.
Extending the deadline would enable small- and mid-cap listed companies to be eligible for the Sustainability Reporting Grant from the Economic Development Board and Enterprise Singapore. This is because the grant is awarded only to reports filed before the requirement to comply with mandatory climate-related disclosures kicks in.
Mr Kok also recommended increasing the awareness and application of proportionality mechanisms, with more guidance within and across sectors relevant to the Republic.
In response to the SBF recommendations, an SGX RegCo spokesperson said it is aware that the ISSB standards are ambitious and that smaller companies, in particular, have found compliance challenging.
