The four pillars of sustainability reporting
They are Governance, Strategy, Risk Management and Metrics & Targets — the architecture the TCFD published in 2017, now inside IFRS S1, IFRS S2 and UK SRS.
Four pillars, in the order they are always given
Beneath the four sit eleven recommended disclosures. The order runs from who is accountable to what the numbers say, and every framework that has adopted it has kept the sequence.
What each of the four pillars actually asks for
Each pillar is one core recommendation, and each carries between two and three recommended disclosures. Governance is the only one with two. The pillars are deliberately broad so that they apply to any sector; the disclosures underneath are what make them concrete.
Select a pillar to see its own disclosures and the tone the swarm is using for it throughout this page.
The 11 recommended disclosures, grouped by pillar
Eleven is the number people mean when they say a report is "TCFD-aligned". Two sit under Governance, and three under each of the other pillars.
The eleven are lettered within each pillar — Governance a) and b), Strategy a) to c), and so on — which is why disclosures are cited as "Strategy c)" rather than by a number out of eleven.
Four frameworks, one architecture
If someone asks for "the four pillars", the pillars are the same in every case — what changes is the scope they are applied to and whether a given disclosure is recommended or required.
TCFD applied them to climate, and recommended. IFRS S2 applies them to climate, and requires. IFRS S1 applies them to every material sustainability topic. UK SRS S1 and S2 are the UK's endorsement of both, published 25 February 2026. See UK SRS vs TCFD for a side-by-side of what changed.
There are two different "four pillars", and only one of them is about reporting
Search for the four pillars of sustainability and you will get two incompatible answers. They are not competing definitions of the same thing — they answer different questions, and the word that separates them is reporting.
The pillars outlived the body that wrote them
The Financial Stability Board created the Task Force in 2015. It published its final recommendations in June 2017, and disbanded in October 2023 having concluded its work was done — by which point the ISSB had already absorbed the architecture into IFRS S2.
This is why "TCFD" and "the four pillars" are still used interchangeably years after the task force ceased to exist, and why a UK company preparing UK SRS S2 is working to a structure designed in 2017.
Strategy c) is where the four pillars get expensive
Ten of the eleven disclosures describe things an organisation already knows or already measures. The eleventh — the resilience of the strategy under different climate scenarios, including a 2°C-or-lower scenario — asks it to model a future it has not had to model before.
Under TCFD this was a recommendation. IFRS S2 made it firmer, and UK SRS S2 carries that through — see scenario analysis under UK SRS.
Which of your four pillars is thinnest?
Four questions, one per pillar. This returns a band and a reading order, not a score — there is no scored maturity model in TCFD, IFRS S2 or UK SRS, and inventing one would be inventing a fact.
The framework at a glance
The TCFD's 2017 final recommendations are organised around four core recommendations — one for each pillar — applicable to financial and non-financial companies across industries and jurisdictions.
The Task Force was established by the Financial Stability Board in 2015 to develop consistent climate-related financial disclosures for companies, banks, and investors.
Beneath the four pillars sit 11 recommended disclosures, the specific pieces of information a company is asked to provide.
The pillars are deliberately broad so they apply to any sector; the disclosures make them concrete.
Pillar 1 — Governance
Governance covers how the organisation oversees climate-related risks and opportunities.
It asks for two disclosures: the board's oversight of climate-related risks and opportunities, and management's role in assessing and managing them. The TCFD viewed governance as foundational — without clear board accountability, the other three pillars cannot function effectively.
Pillar 2 — Strategy
Strategy addresses the actual and potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on the business, strategy and financial planning.
It includes three disclosures: the risks and opportunities identified over the short, medium and long term; their impact on the business and strategy; and the resilience of the strategy under different climate scenarios, including a 2°C-or-lower scenario.
Scenario analysis is the most demanding part of this pillar, and the area UK SRS S2 firms up most — see scenario analysis under UK SRS.
IFRS S2 made scenario analysis a firmer requirement, building on TCFD's recommendation.
Pillar 3 — Risk Management
Risk Management covers how the organisation identifies, assesses and manages climate-related risks, and how those processes are integrated into overall risk management.
It carries three disclosures spanning identification and assessment, management, and integration into the organisation's broader risk management approach.
TCFD identified that climate risks need to be integrated into enterprise risk management, not treated as a separate reporting exercise.
Pillar 4 — Metrics & Targets
Metrics & Targets covers the measures used to assess and manage climate risk.
Its three disclosures are: the metrics used; Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse-gas emissions and the related risks; and the targets used and performance against them.
The GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard defines the categories of value chain emissions that TCFD recommends disclosing.
The 11 recommended disclosures
The full set, grouped by pillar:
a) Board oversight of climate-related risks and opportunities.
b) Management's role in assessing and managing them.
a) Climate risks and opportunities over short, medium and long term.
b) Their impact on business, strategy and financial planning.
c) Resilience of the strategy under different scenarios, including 2°C or lower.
a) Processes for identifying and assessing climate risks.
b) Processes for managing climate risks.
c) Integration into overall risk management.
a) Metrics used to assess climate risks and opportunities.
b) Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and related risks.
c) Targets used and performance against them.
How it maps to UK SRS S2
The ISSB's IFRS S2 carries the TCFD's four pillars and eleven recommended disclosures — the IFRS Foundation's own word for the relationship is "consistent with", and IFRS S2 then asks for more, including industry-based metrics, planned use of carbon credits and financed emissions — and the UK's UK SRS S1 and S2 (published 25 February 2026) are the UK endorsement.
IFRS S2 was published in June 2023, before the TCFD's own disbandment in October 2023, when the task force concluded its mission was complete.
For a side-by-side of what changes, see UK SRS vs TCFD; for the successor standard itself, see UK SRS S2.