IFRS S2 vs GRI vs ESRS, explained.
You rarely pick just one. A SET-listed company increasingly discloses against all three — each answers a different question for a different reader. Here is who each is for, whether it applies to you, and how they fit together in a single 56-1 One Report.
- 01IFRS S2 — investors, financial materiality, climate
- 02GRI — all stakeholders, impact materiality, full ESG
- 03ESRS — EU-scope companies, double materiality
The comparison.
Eight dimensions that decide which framework a Thai listed company reports against — and how the three interlock rather than compete.
| Dimension | IFRS S2ISSB · investor climate | GRIstakeholder impact | ESRSEU CSRD · double materiality |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Climate risk to your business — for investors. | Your impact on the world — for all stakeholders. | Both directions — mandated by the EU. |
| Materiality lens | Financial (single). How sustainability affects enterprise value. | Impact. How your company affects the economy, environment and people. | Double. Financial and impact, assessed together. |
| Primary audience | Investors and capital markets. | All stakeholders — communities, employees, regulators, investors. | Investors and stakeholders, under EU law. |
| Topics covered | Climate only (IFRS S1 covers general sustainability). | The full ESG universe — Universal, Topic and Sector standards. | Full ESG — 12 standards (E1–E5, S1–S4, G1), 1,000+ data points. |
| Structure | The four TCFD pillars — governance, strategy, risk management, metrics & targets — plus Scope 1, 2 & 3. | Universal standards + topic standards + sector standards. | Cross-cutting + topical standards, with a mandated double-materiality assessment. |
| Status for Thai listed companies | Becoming the baseline. Thailand’s TSRS is built on ISSB IFRS S1/S2; the SEC is phasing it in, largest issuers (SET50) first. | Voluntary but de-facto standard. The most-used framework in Thai 56-1 One Report sustainability sections. | Indirect. Binds Thai companies inside EU value chains, with EU operations, or EU-listed (via CSRD). |
| Assurance | Moving toward mandatory limited assurance as ISSB adoption matures. | Voluntary. | Mandatory limited assurance, tightening to reasonable assurance over time. |
| The English reality | Read by global investors in English. | Read by international raters and stakeholders in English. | Filed and assured in English (and EU languages). |
Why this matters now.
Frameworks, answered.
01Do Thai listed companies have to choose one framework?+
No — and most do not. IFRS S2, GRI and ESRS answer different questions for different audiences, so companies increasingly report against more than one: ISSB-based standards (via Thailand’s TSRS) for investors and the regulator, GRI for the broader stakeholder view that fills the 56-1 One Report sustainability section, and ESRS only if they are pulled into EU scope. They interlock rather than compete; the practical task is disclosing once and mapping the same facts to each framework so they never contradict.
02What is the difference between IFRS S2 and GRI?+
The difference is direction and audience. IFRS S2 (from the ISSB) uses financial materiality — it asks how climate affects your company’s value, and it is written for investors. GRI uses impact materiality — it asks how your company affects the world, and it is written for all stakeholders. Many Thai companies use both: IFRS S2 for the investor-facing climate risk story, GRI for the wider ESG picture. ESRS, the EU standard, requires both lenses at once (double materiality).
03Is IFRS S2 mandatory in Thailand?+
Thailand is adopting the ISSB standards through the Thai Sustainability Reporting Standards (TSRS), developed by the TFAC and aligned with the SEC. The SEC is phasing disclosure in for listed companies, beginning with the largest issuers, so for many SET-listed companies IFRS S1/S2-based disclosure is moving from voluntary to expected. Always confirm the exact requirement and start year for your company against current SEC and TFAC notices — the phase-in is staged and still being finalised.
04Do Thai companies need to comply with ESRS?+
Usually not directly — ESRS is the reporting standard under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). It reaches Thai companies indirectly: if you have significant EU operations or an EU listing, or if a large EU customer needs your data for their own CSRD value-chain reporting. Even where it does not bind you, ESRS and its double-materiality approach are shaping what global investors and buyers expect, so it is worth understanding.
05How do you report against several frameworks without contradicting yourself?+
You disclose the underlying facts once — governance, targets, GHG figures with their base years and methodology tags — and map that single source to each framework’s structure. Contradictions creep in when the Thai filing, the English edition and each framework version are drafted separately. Othello builds one clause-mapped, terminology-locked bilingual disclosure so the SEC filing, the investor-facing IFRS S2 story and the GRI content all read the same numbers.
From frameworks to a filing.
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FTSE vs MSCI vs Sustainalytics — how the raters differ.
Thai ESG Statistics 2026
Rating & GHG-disclosure rates by market and sector, sourced.
Clause-Mapped One Report
One disclosure, mapped to every framework, in both languages.
One disclosure. Every framework.
We build the bilingual disclosure that maps a single set of facts to IFRS S2, GRI and — where it applies — ESRS, so the SEC filing and every framework version read the same numbers. Clause-mapped, terminology-locked, under NDA.
