What it actually is, and what happened to it
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board was a US-based independent standards organisation, founded in 2011, that built industry-specific sustainability disclosure standards, 77 different industry standards, each identifying the small set of sustainability topics genuinely material to that specific industry's investors, rather than a generic one-size-fits-all checklist.
SASB no longer operates as a standalone body. In 2022, its standards and the broader Value Reporting Foundation were consolidated into the IFRS Foundation, the same body that runs the ISSB. SASB's industry-specific metrics now live on inside the ISSB's IFRS S1 standard, rather than as a separate framework a company reports against on its own.
Why SASB's approach still matters, even after consolidation
SASB's core insight, that materiality is industry-specific, not universal, is the part that survived the consolidation and shaped how ISSB approaches sector guidance. A pharma company and a cement company face genuinely different material sustainability risks; SASB's industry standards, now inside IFRS S1, are what let a company identify which specific metrics actually matter for its sector instead of reporting against a generic universal list.
SASB operated as a standalone standard-setter with 77 industry-specific standards.
SASB and the Value Reporting Foundation consolidated into the IFRS Foundation.
SASB's industry metrics are referenced inside IFRS S1 as industry-based guidance, not reported against as a separate standard.
Practical takeaway: if you see "SASB" referenced in a current sustainability report, it's most likely being used as industry-specific guidance within an ISSB-aligned disclosure, not as a separate filing. Treat "we report to SASB" as a signal to ask which specific IFRS S1 industry standard is actually being applied.
Related in the Guide: TCFD → ISSB
How SASB relates to other frameworks
Where GRI asks every organisation broadly similar questions, SASB's surviving industry logic inside IFRS S1 asks each sector a narrower, more specific set, the two approaches are complementary rather than competing, and a thorough report often draws on both.