South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) finalised its sustainability disclosure roadmap on 8 July 2026: KOSPI-listed companies with consolidated total assets of KRW 10 trillion or more will report climate-related information under the Korea Sustainability Standards Board (KSSB) standards in their statutory business report from 2028, covering FY2027, with the threshold falling to KRW 5 trillion in 2029, Scope 3 three years after each tier's first report, and third-party assurance from 2030. The roadmap needs an amendment to the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act that the National Assembly has not yet passed, so every date and threshold on this page is a proposal.
Korea joins Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and Malaysia in building its regime on the ISSB baseline.
| Regulator | Financial Services Commission (FSC), with the Korea Sustainability Standards Board (KSSB, under the Korea Accounting Institute) as standard-setter. Disclosure filed in the annual business report under the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (proposed) |
| Standard | KSSB Sustainability Disclosure Standard No. 1 (General Requirements) and No. 2 (Climate-related Disclosures), promulgated 26 February 2026, based on IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. Climate disclosure is the mandatory element; other sustainability topics are optional |
| Companies in scope | KOSPI-listed companies with consolidated total assets of KRW 10 trillion or more from 2028 (FY2027); KRW 5 trillion or more from 2029; a KRW 2 trillion threshold under review for 2030 (proposed). Consolidated basis, with a first-year option to exclude subsidiaries whose assets and sales are each below 10% of the group |
| Estimated population | 291 companies including subsidiaries in 2028 and 3,171 in 2029 (FSC projection, 8 July 2026) |
| First reporting year | FY2027, reported in the 2028 business report (proposed) |
| Scope 3 required | Yes, three years after each tier's first report: 2031 for the KRW 10 trillion tier, 2032 for the KRW 5 trillion tier, 2033 for the KRW 2 trillion tier (provisional). Small enterprises under the Framework Act on Small and Medium Enterprises outside high-carbon sectors are exempt (proposed) |
| Assurance | Third-party assurance mandatory from 2030, two years after the first report (proposed). Assurance scope, level and provider registration rules: Not yet published |
| Penalty regime | Statutory disclosure liability under the Capital Markets Act applies. For the first three years, companies are exempt from civil damages, administrative sanctions and criminal penalties on the whole disclosure, except for intentional greenwashing. A permanent safe harbour for forecasts, estimates and third-party data follows (proposed) |
The roadmap of 8 July 2026 is a joint decision of the government and the ruling Democratic Party, taken at a party-government consultation chaired by the FSC. It replaces the draft consulted on from 25 February 2026, which started at KRW 30 trillion with exchange-based disclosure before a later move to statutory filing. Four member bills to write sustainability disclosure into the Capital Markets Act were introduced between 30 March and 18 June 2026, and the FSC and ruling party agreed to draw up their own amendment bill from July 2026. As of 23 September 2026 the FSC's press release feed records no government bill and no National Assembly vote, so the disclosure duty, the assurance duty and the liability exemptions all depend on legislation still to come.
The FSC first announced a plan in January 2021 to phase ESG disclosure in for all KOSPI-listed companies by 2030. In October 2023 it postponed the start to 2026 or later to line up with overseas timetables and give companies preparation time. The KSSB consulted on exposure drafts of its standards until 31 August 2024 and promulgated the final standards on 26 February 2026, one day after the FSC published its draft roadmap. The July 2026 roadmap widened the first tier and made statutory disclosure the channel from day one.
In-scope companies disclose climate-related risks and opportunities under KSSB Standard No. 2, applying the general requirements of Standard No. 1, inside the annual business report (proposed).
KSSB Standard No. 1 (General Requirements): the Korean adoption of IFRS S1. It sets the reporting entity (the same consolidated group as the financial statements), the materiality test, the location and timing of disclosures, and the option to disclose climate information only (paragraph E4).
KSSB Standard No. 2 (Climate-related Disclosures): the Korean adoption of IFRS S2. It follows the four-pillar structure of governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets, and requires Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions in tonnes of CO2 equivalent (paragraph 29). Industry-based metrics are optional, a change from IFRS S2 (paragraph 32).
The GHG Protocol as the measurement standard: Standard No. 2 paragraph 29(1)(b) requires emissions to be measured under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (2004) unless a regulator or exchange requires another method, and Scope 3 to follow the categories of the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard (2011).
Transition reliefs: no comparative information in the first year (paragraph C3); a company using another measurement method in the year before adoption can keep it for one year (paragraph C4(1)); Scope 3 and financed emissions can be omitted for three years after first application (paragraph C4(2)), against one year in IFRS S2.
Disclosures are reported at the same time as the financial statements unless law or regulation sets a different date (Standard No. 1 paragraph 64). The FSC roadmap adds mandatory third-party assurance from 2030 and a liability regime with a three-year exemption (proposed).
The roadmap covers KOSPI-listed companies by consolidated total assets, in three tiers (proposed).
Tier 1, from 2028 (FY2027): KOSPI-listed companies with consolidated total assets of KRW 10 trillion or more.
Tier 2, from 2029: consolidated total assets of KRW 5 trillion or more.
Tier 3, from 2030: consolidated total assets of KRW 2 trillion or more, subject to the FSC's review of 2028 and 2029 disclosure practice.
Disclosure is on a consolidated basis. For the first disclosure year only, a company can exclude subsidiaries whose assets and sales are each below 10% of the consolidated figures. Listed companies below the thresholds can disclose voluntarily under the KSSB standards through the Korea Exchange, which will update its voluntary disclosure system and credit voluntary reporters when it selects outstanding disclosure companies.
Small enterprises as defined in the Framework Act on Small and Medium Enterprises that are outside high-carbon sectors are exempt from Scope 3 disclosure (proposed).
Supply-chain reach (Terrascope analysis, not a rule requirement): the 2028 and 2029 tiers cover Korea's largest exporters, and the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment is writing Scope 3 guidelines for 15 export industries, from batteries, steel, petrochemicals, semiconductors and displays to shipbuilding, autos and auto parts, machinery, textiles and appliances. From 2031 those companies need emissions data from their suppliers, so component makers, commodity and food producers, logistics providers and contract manufacturers across Southeast Asia, Japan, China, Europe and the Americas should expect Scope 3 data requests from Korean customers.
|
Milestone |
Measurement year |
First reporting date |
|---|---|---|
| KSSB Standards No. 1 and No. 2 promulgated | 26 February 2026 | Voluntary application from FY2026 |
| FSC final roadmap | 8 July 2026 | Capital Markets Act amendment to follow |
| Capital Markets Act amendment | Not yet published | Sets disclosure duty, assurance duty and liability rules |
| Tier 1 (KRW 10 trillion+) climate disclosure | FY2027 (proposed) | 2028 business report (proposed) |
| Tier 2 (KRW 5 trillion+) climate disclosure | FY2028 (proposed) | 2029 business report (proposed) |
| Third-party assurance | FY2029 (proposed) | 2030 (proposed) |
| Tier 3 (KRW 2 trillion+) climate disclosure | FY2029 (proposed, under review) | 2030 (proposed, under review) |
| Scope 3, Tier 1 | FY2030 (proposed) | 2031 (proposed) |
| Scope 3, Tier 2 | FY2031 (proposed) | 2032 (proposed) |
| Scope 3, Tier 3 | FY2032 (provisional) | 2033 (provisional) |
The three-year liability exemption runs from the first disclosure year of each company (proposed). Assurance scope and level, and the registration rules for assurance providers, will be set in the Capital Markets Act regulations before 2030.
1. Supply-chain ripple across Asia and beyond. Korea's largest listed groups run global value chains in semiconductors, batteries, autos, shipbuilding, steel and consumer electronics. Their Scope 3 disclosures from 2031 (proposed) reach suppliers in Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, China, Europe and North America. The government's plan for 1,000 life cycle inventory datasets by 2028 positions secondary data as the fallback where suppliers provide no primary data.
2. Regional ISSB convergence. The KSSB standards are Korea's adoption of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, alongside Japan's SSBJ standards, Singapore's SGX and ACRA rules, Hong Kong's HKFRS S2, Australia's AASB S2 and Malaysia's National Sustainability Reporting Framework. A GHG Protocol inventory measured once serves every one of them.
3. Statutory disclosure with a safe harbour. Korea chose statutory filing with liability protection over exchange-based reporting, citing Japan's safe harbour for forward-looking and estimated information as its model: a legal duty paired with defined protection for good-faith estimates.
The first measurement year is FY2027 (proposed), which begins on 1 January 2027 for calendar-year companies, and the KSSB standards are final now.
Establish your greenhouse gas inventory on the GHG Protocol. Standard No. 2 names the Corporate Standard and the Scope 3 Standard, so a GHG Protocol inventory built now is the KSSB inventory. Scope 1 and 2 across the consolidated group is the year-one deliverable; the three-year Scope 3 relief is preparation time for the harder build, Scope 3 by category.
Map your value-chain exposure to Korean reporting entities. If your customers are KOSPI groups above KRW 5 trillion in assets, their Scope 3 requests arrive ahead of 2031 and 2032 (proposed). Knowing which customers report, and when, tells you when the requests land.
Build assurance-ready processes early. Third-party assurance applies from 2030 (proposed), two years after the first report. Methodology documentation, source-data traceability and review controls have to exist from the first inventory, because an assurance provider asks "where did this number come from?" for every figure, and the safe harbour protects estimates made with reasonable grounds, so the grounds have to be on file.
Build on the frameworks you already use. Korea Exchange voluntary sustainability reports, CDP responses, TCFD reports and EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive work all rest on the same GHG Protocol inventory, and Standard No. 2 keeps the four-pillar structure those frameworks already use.
Preparing for third-party assurance on your KSSB disclosures from 2030? Download Your First Climate Audit: A Practical Guide for a step-by-step walkthrough of what assurance providers ask for and how to get your data ready.
Terrascope's AI-powered platform helps companies operating across Asia move from baseline emissions data to audit-ready disclosures, including Japan Tobacco, which completed two years of Scope 3 supply-chain emissions calculations across about 20 group companies, including overseas subsidiaries, in a single month.
Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions measurement. Integrations pull emissions data from your source systems monthly, so your inventory covers every subsidiary in the consolidated group and every Scope 3 category Standard No. 2 requires.
Audit-ready reporting. Audit Trail makes every figure traceable from data entry to disclosure, with assurance-provider access built in, so the 2030 assurance duty runs on evidence that already exists.
Supply-chain intelligence. Analytics shows you where your Scope 3 hotspots sit before the 2031 disclosure, so the three-year relief becomes reduction planning time.
Multi-framework alignment. ISSB Reporting drafts your disclosures from your measured data, reviewed by your team, in the IFRS S2 structure the KSSB standards share.
Are you ready to get ahead of South Korea's KSSB climate disclosure requirements? Speak to a Terrascope expert and see how we help companies move from baseline emissions data to audit-ready disclosures.