Official ASRS documentation
This article provides the official ASRS documentation. AASB S2, the climate standard within the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards (ASRS), plus three pieces of AASB educational material, and the two AUASB assurance standards ASSA 5000 and ASSA 5010. AASB S2 is the only one of them that is law. The AASB educational material explains the standard but does not change it, and the two assurance standards tell you what your auditor will actually test and in which year. Each document is linked below with what it covers and when you would open it.
Which document answers which question
| Your question | The document to open |
|---|---|
| What exactly am I required to disclose? | AASB S2 |
| Which Scope 3 categories apply to us, and how good does the data need to be? | AASB educational material: GHG emissions disclosures |
| Can we do less because we are small or resource-constrained? | AASB educational material: proportionality mechanisms |
| Do we have to put a dollar figure on this risk? | AASB educational material: anticipated financial effects |
| What will our auditor do, and what evidence will they want? | ASSA 5000 |
| Which parts of our report are assured this year, and at what level? | ASSA 5010 |
The standard: AASB S2
AASB S2 Climate-related Disclosures
The standard itself, made by the AASB on 20 September 2024 and registered as a legislative instrument. It applies to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025. Fifty-nine pages: the four pillars in the body, then Appendix A defined terms, Appendix B application guidance, Appendix C effective date and transition relief, and Appendix D general requirements for disclosure. Open it when you need to quote the exact obligation.
Go straight to: paragraph 6 for the governance evidence list, paragraph 22 and B1 to B18 for scenario analysis, paragraph 29 for the metrics set, paragraphs 33 to 36 for targets, and Appendix C for first-year relief.
AASB educational material
Three publications from the AASB that interpret the standard without changing it. Each carries the same statement: it is not part of AASB S2 and does not add to or change the requirements. That makes them persuasive rather than binding, which matters when you are citing one to an auditor.
Greenhouse gas emissions disclosure requirements applying AASB S2, August 2025
Thirteen questions and three worked examples covering the emissions parts of AASB S2. It answers whether all fifteen Scope 3 categories apply, whether the GHG Protocol minimum boundaries cap your Scope 3 measurement, how the Scope 3 measurement framework ranks data sources, and what happens to comparatives after an acquisition. Open it when an emissions boundary or data quality decision needs an AASB citation behind it.
Go straight to: Q4 on category relevance, Q5 on minimum boundaries, Q6 and Appendix A on reporting entity versus organisational boundary, Q7 and Figure 1 on the data hierarchy, Q13 on comparatives after an acquisition or disposal.
Proportionality mechanisms in AASB S2, September 2025
Four pages on the two proportionality mechanisms in the standard: using reasonable and supportable information available without undue cost or effort, and using an approach commensurate with your skills, capabilities and resources. Its page two table maps which mechanism attaches to which requirement, including Scope 3 and scenario analysis. Open it when someone claims proportionality lets you skip a disclosure.
Go straight to: the mapping table on page two, and the callout stating that proportionality does not exempt an entity from providing disclosures.
Disclosing information about anticipated financial effects applying AASB S2, October 2025
Around twenty-three pages in three parts: an overview and how the disclosure connects to the financial statements, the mechanisms and reliefs, then five worked illustrations with actual currency ranges and time horizon definitions. The most practically useful document in the set if a client is resisting quantification. Open it to test whether a relief genuinely applies and to model the disclosure wording.
Go straight to: illustrations A to E in section three, the list of circumstances where quantitative information is not required, and the three explanations you must give when you drop quantitative information.
The assurance standards
ASSA 5000 General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements
The AUASB standard your auditor follows. Two hundred and eight pages covering acceptance, planning, materiality, risk, evidence, conclusions and reporting, with limited assurance and reasonable assurance requirements marked separately using an L or R after the paragraph number. Open it to see what evidence an auditor is obliged to obtain, or to read the illustrative assurance report wording before you receive one.
Go straight to: Appendix 3 for the four illustrative assurance reports, paragraph 190 for the required report elements, paragraphs 114 to 121 for what the auditor must understand about your systems and controls, and Appendix 2 for the map of every requirement engaged by your materiality process.
Eleven pages, purely Australian, with no international equivalent, and the single most useful document in the set for Year 1 scoping. It sets the assurance phase-in: which parts of the sustainability report need a review and which need a full audit, in each reporting year, for each of Groups 1, 2 and 3. The appendix carries the whole schedule on one page. There is more on how the phase-in applies to your reporting group here.
Go straight to: the appendix table, paragraph 10(a) for exactly what sits inside Year 1 scope, and paragraph 11 for the comparatives relief in the year you move from review to audit.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need to read all of AASB S2?
No. The four pillar sections in the body, Appendix C on transition relief, and the parts of Appendix D covering materiality, location and timing of disclosures will cover most of what a first-time reporter needs. Appendix B is application guidance you consult on specific questions rather than read through, and the Basis for Conclusions is background on why the AASB made the decisions it did.
Do we have to apply AASB S1 as well?
Not for mandatory climate reporting. The general disclosure requirements you need are reproduced in Appendix D of AASB S2, so applying AASB S2 gives you them. AASB S1 sits alongside it for entities choosing to report on broader sustainability topics voluntarily.
Our auditor disagrees with the AASB educational material. Who wins?
The standard does, because the educational material does not change it. In practice the material is still the best support available for a judgement the standard leaves open, since it is the AASB explaining its own requirement. Point to the specific question or illustration you are relying on, say what judgement you took and why, and record it. If the disagreement is about scope rather than interpretation, there is more on handling that here.
Which document tells us whether Scope 3 needs assurance this year?
ASSA 5010, in its appendix. Scope 3 is not in scope for assurance in a Group 1 entity's first reporting year, and moves to limited assurance from the second year. Check the appendix against your own reporting group and financial year start, because the year windows differ by group.