Global sustainability rules are splitting into two tracks. As the European Union moved to ease carbon and sustainability regulations, investors managing 12 trillion euros in assets pushed back, calling on it not to unsettle the market. In the same period, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) announced its finalized Corporate Net-Zero Standard 2.0, moving toward stronger assessment of implementation. Disclosure obligations are loosening while verification of emissions targets is tightening, both at the same time.
SBTi's new standard takes effect in February 2027. The existing standard will run in parallel through the end of 2027, so there is a period of about 11 months in which both systems remain valid. The exact dates for the start of application and the end of the parallel period have not been formally announced.
The core of Standard 2.0 is the introduction of a "best efforts" framework. Companies must go beyond declaring targets and disclose the barriers that block implementation along with the measures taken to address them. Assessment has widened from looking only at whether a target was met to also looking at what was done when it was not met.
The method for setting targets was also revised. The setting methods for Scope 1, 2 and 3 were each broken down in more detail, and the weight given to transition plans was increased. Market instruments such as electricity and raw material certificates remain permitted, while the principle that actual reductions come first was maintained. The specific requirements of that breakdown fall outside what has been disclosed.
Developments in the EU run the other way. As so-called omnibus easing measures to lighten the burden of sustainability regulations were pushed forward, public opposition emerged from the investor camp. The scale of 12 trillion euros shows the character of that opposition. Large asset management players lined up on the side demanding that the rules be kept.
This contrast bears directly on the design of Korea's system. The Financial Services Commission has set a goal of announcing its sustainability disclosure roadmap within this month. Domestic discussion has been handled in the context of the "K-GX information infrastructure," together with the question of alignment with global trends. The roadmap is arriving at a point when global rules have not aligned into one.
The question of assurance has come up as well. Experts have advised that, to raise the credibility of disclosed information, it would be desirable to make disclosure mandatory and assurance (third-party verification) mandatory at the same time. A qualifier was attached that if simultaneous implementation is difficult because of corporate readiness and other factors, there is a need to consider making assurance mandatory one year after disclosure becomes mandatory. The starting point for counting that one year will be set once the roadmap is released.
A phased approach was proposed for the scope of assurance. In the early stage of introduction, only some information would be subject to assurance, with the scope widened afterward, and the assurance criteria would follow standards that have international alignment. There has also been a change in the Financial Services Commission's position on assurance.
Two timelines bear on corporate practice at once. One is the domestic disclosure roadmap targeted for announcement this month, the other is SBTi's new standard beginning in February 2027. The starting point of the preparation burden will differ depending on when and how broadly the domestic roadmap applies mandatory assurance, and companies that have had targets validated by SBTi will separately need to move those targets to the new system before the parallel period ends at the close of 2027. The stretch where both timelines arrive together is 2027.
