The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) released voluntary guidelines to help the financial sector report on sustainability issues in annual filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

SASB Standards are comprised of disclosure guidance and accounting standards on sustainability topics for US and foreign public companies in their annual filings with SEC. SASB Standards may also be applicable to other periodic mandatory fillings with the SEC, such as the Form 10-Q, Form S-1, and Form 8-K, the organization said.

SASB’s disclosure guidance identifies sustainability topics at an industry level, which may be material— depending on a company’s specific operating context— to a company within that industry.

The SEC has been criticized for failing to enforce its rules for corporate reporting on climate risk. A recent report from Ceres said the majority of financial reporting on climate change from S&P 500 companies is too brief and largely superficial.