KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 8): The Advisory Committee on Sustainability Reporting (ACSR), led by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), will prioritise helping companies build the skills and capacity needed to meet the National Sustainability Reporting Framework (NSRF) requirements.
Currently, mandatory sustainability reporting applies only to Main and ACE Market-listed companies and large unlisted firms with revenue above RM2 billion.
The SC, in a statement explaining how it will handle non-compliance with sustainability reporting rules, said it wants companies to make steady progress in producing consistent and reliable sustainability information.
Most non-compliance issues will be handled through engagement and corrective actions, but serious or deliberate breaches — such as fraudulent or misleading disclosures — will face immediate enforcement.
“We recognise the challenges companies face in meeting the new sustainability reporting standards due to, among others, a lack of resources, the quality of external data or the difficulty in obtaining necessary expertise.”
“Our approach is to balance the need for compliance with the varied levels of readiness across reporting entities,” the SC Chairman Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi said.
Regulators such as the SC, Bank Negara, Bursa Malaysia, the Companies Commission of Malaysia and the Audit Oversight Board will review sustainability reports in phases as companies adopt the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards.
Launched in September 2024, the NSRF sets a national baseline for sustainability reporting to help companies meet global International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards. Key standards include sustainability-related financial information and climate-related disclosures.
Main Market-listed companies with an annual revenue of RM2 billion and above began their transition in January 2025, with full adoption due by early 2027. Main Market firms with an annual revenue below RM2 billion start in 2026 and must comply by 2028. ACE Market-listed and large unlisted companies start in 2027, with adoption completion by 2030.
The ACSR emphasised that enforcement is crucial to maintain standards and protect the public.