An accounting perspective on the IFRS sustainability reporting standards for greenhouse gas emissions: implications for the Asia Pacific

From an accounting perspective, we critically review the IFRS sustainability standards regarding its acceptability. The sustainability standards have serious implementation issues due to (1) their lack of financial reporting framework; (2) high compliance cost issues, particularly for entities in developing countries; (3) forward-looking disclosure requirements; (4) triple cost burden for the measurement, attestation and increased audit involvement for GHG emissions; (5) the possibility of compromised audit quality; and (6) issues with financed emissions. IFRS does not have accounting standards for recognizing, measuring and presenting climate-related financial statement items. As a result, diverse methods for climate-related accounting are practiced. IFRS must set GHG-related accounting standards to culminate the goal of integrating sustainability reporting into the financial reporting framework. In the Appendix, we developed two illustrative examples as temporary guidance to help the regulated entities recognize GHG-related financial statement items until IFRS releases the standards.