ifrs-s2-ibg-volume-56-internet-media-and-services-part-b

Title: Volume 56—Internet Media & Services

Category: Part B—Industry-based Guidance for IFRS S2

Source: IFRS Foundation (https://www.ifrs.org)

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PDF: https://www.ifrs.org/content/dam/ifrs/publications/pdf-standards-issb/english/2023/issued/part-b/ifrs-s2-ibg-volume-56-internet-media-and-services-part-b.pdf?bypass=on

Year: 2023

Type: Industry

Industry-based Guidance on implementing

Climate-related Disclosures

Volume 56—Internet Media & Services

June 2023

IFRS S2

IFRS

® Sustainability Disclosure Standard

International Sustainability Standards Board

This Industry-based Guidance accompanies IFRS S2 Climate related Disclosures (published

June 2023; see separate booklet) and is issued by the International Sustainability

Standards Board (ISSB).

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IFRS S2 CLIMATE-RELATED DISCLOSURES–JUNE 2023

Introduction

This volume is part of the Industry-based Guidance on Implementing IFRS S2 Climate-related

Disclosures. This guidance suggests possible ways to apply some of the disclosure requirements in

IFRS S2 but does not create additional requirements.

This volume suggests possible ways to identify, measure and disclose information about

climate-related risks and opportunities that are associated with particular business

models, economic activities and other common features that characterise participation in

this industry.

This industry-based guidance has been derived from Sustainability Accounting Standards

Board (SASB) Standards, which are maintained by the International Sustainability

Standards Board (ISSB). The metric codes used in SASB Standards have been included for

ease of reference. For additional context regarding the industry-based guidance contained

in this volume, including structure and terminology, application and illustrative

examples, refer to Section III of the Accompanying Guidance to IFRS S2.

IFRS S2 INDUSTRY-BASED GUIDANCE

Volume 56—Internet Media & Services

Industry Description

The Internet Media & Services industry consists of two main segments. Entities in the

Internet Media segment provide search engines and internet advertising channels, online

gaming, and online communities such as social networks, as well as content, which is

usually easily searchable, such as educational, medical, health, sports or news content.

Entities in the internet-based Services segment sell services mainly through the internet.

The industry generates revenue primarily from online advertising, usually on free

content, with other revenue sources being subscription fees, content sales or the sale of

user information to third parties.

Sustainability Disclosure Topics & Metrics

Table 1. Sustainability Disclosure Topics & Metrics

TOPIC

METRIC

CATEGORY

UNIT OF

MEASURE

CODE

Entity-defined measure of user activity 96 Quantitative See note TC-IM-000.A

(1) Data processing capacity, (2) percentage outsourced 97 Quantitative See note TC-IM-000.B

(1) Amount of data storage, (2) percentage outsourced 98 Quantitative Petabytes,Percentage (%) TC-IM-000.C 96 Note to TC-IM-000.A – The entity shall define and disclose a basic measure of customer activity suitable for its business activities. This may include, but is not limited to, sales transactions,

purchase transactions, number of searches, monthly active users, or page views.

97 Note to TC-IM-000.B – Data processing capacity shall be reported in units of measure typically tracked by the entity or used as the basis for contracting software and IT services, such as Million Service Units (MSUs), Million Instructions per Second (MIPS), Mega FloatingPoint Operations per Second (MFLOPS), compute cycles, or other. Alternatively, the entity may disclose owned and outsourced data processing needs in other units of measure, such as rack space or data centre square footage. The percentage outsourced shall include o-premise cloud services,

those that are hosted on public cloud, and those that are residing in colocation data centres.

98 Note to TC-IM-000.C – The percentage outsourced shall include on-premise cloud services, those that are hosted on public cloud, and those that are residing in colocation data centres.

IFRS S2 CLIMATE-RELATED DISCLOSURES–JUNE 2023© IFRS Foundation 3

Environmental Footprint of Hardware Infrastructure Topic Summary With the Internet & Media Services industry providing a growing amount of content and service offerings, entities in this industry increasingly own, operate or rent more data centres and other hardware. Thus, managing the energy and water use associated with IT hardware infrastructure is relevant to value creation. Data centres must be powered continuously. Energy supply disruptions may have a material impact on operations depending on the disruption magnitude and timing. Entities face a trade-off between energy and water consumption because of data centre cooling needs. Cooling data centres with water instead of chillers improves energy efficiency, but this method may create dependence on significant local water resources. Data centre specification decisions are important for managing costs, obtaining a reliable energy and water supply, and reducing reputational risks, particularly with the increasing global regulatory focus on climate change and the opportunities arising from energy efficiency and renewable energy innovations.

Metrics TC-IM-130a.1. (1) Total energy consumed, (2) percentage grid electricity and

(3) percentage renewable 1 The entity shall disclose (1) the total amount of energy consumed as an aggregate figure, in gigajoules (GJ).

1.1

The scope of energy consumption includes energy from all sources,

including energy purchased from external sources and energy produced by the entity itself (self-generated). For example, direct fuel usage, purchased electricity, and heating, cooling and steam energy are all included within the scope of energy consumption.

1.2

The scope of energy consumption includes only energy directly consumed by the entity during the reporting period.

1.3

In calculating energy consumption from fuels and biofuels, the entity shall use higher heating values (HHV), also known as gross calorific values (GCV), which are measured directly or taken from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

2 The entity shall disclose (2) the percentage of energy consumed that was supplied from grid electricity.

2.1

The percentage shall be calculated as purchased grid electricity consumption divided by total energy consumption.

3 The entity shall disclose (3) the percentage of energy consumed that was renewable energy.

3.1

Renewable energy is defined as energy from sources that are replenished at a rate greater than or equal to their rate of depletion, such as geothermal, wind, solar, hydro and biomass.

3.2

The percentage shall be calculated as renewable energy consumption divided by total energy consumption.

IFRS S2 INDUSTRY-BASED GUIDANCE 4© IFRS Foundation

3.3

The scope of renewable energy includes renewable fuel the entity consumed, renewable energy the entity directly produced and renewable energy the entity purchased, if purchased through a renewable power purchase agreement (PPA) that explicitly includes renewable energy certificates (RECs) or Guarantees of Origin (GOs), a Green‐e Energy Certified utility or supplier programme, or other green power products that explicitly include RECs or GOs, or for which Green‐e Energy Certified RECs are paired with grid electricity.

3.3.1

For any renewable electricity generated on site, any RECs and GOs shall be retained (not sold) and retired or cancelled on behalf of the entity for the entity to claim them as renewable energy.

3.3.2

For renewable PPAs and green power products, the agreement shall explicitly include and convey that RECs and GOs be retained or replaced and retired or cancelled on behalf of the entity for the entity to claim them as renewable energy.

3.3.3

The renewable portion of the electricity grid mix outside the control or influence of the entity is excluded from the scope of renewable energy.

3.4

For the purposes of this disclosure, the scope of renewable energy from biomass sources is limited to materials certified to a third-party standard (for example, Forest Stewardship Council, Sustainable Forest Initiative,

Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification or American Tree Farm System), materials considered eligible sources of supply according to the Green-e Framework for Renewable Energy Certification, Version 1.0 (2017) or Green-e regional standards, or materials eligible for an applicable jurisdictional renewable portfolio standard.

4 The entity shall apply conversion factors consistently for all data reported under this disclosure, such as the use of HHVs for fuel usage (including biofuels) and conversion of kilowatt hours (kWh) to GJ (for energy data including electricity from solar or wind energy).

5 The entity may disclose the trailing 12-month (TTM) weighted average power usage effectiveness (PUE) for its data centres.

5.1

PUE is defined as the ratio of the total amount of power used by a computer data centre facility to the amount of power delivered to computing equipment.

5.2

If disclosing PUE, the entity shall follow the guidance and calculation methodology described in PUE™: A Comprehensive Examination of the Metric

(2014), published by ASHRAE and The Green Grid Association.

TC-IM-130a.2. (1) Total water withdrawn, (2) total water consumed; percentage of each in regions with High or Extremely High Baseline Water Stress 1 The entity shall disclose the amount of water, in thousands of cubic metres,

withdrawn from all sources.

1.1

Water sources include surface water (including water from wetlands,

rivers, lakes, and oceans), groundwater, rainwater collected directly and stored by the entity, and water and wastewater obtained from municipal water supplies, water utilities or other entities.

2 The entity may disclose portions of its supply by source if, for example, significant portions of withdrawals are from non-freshwater sources.

2.1

Fresh water may be defined according to the local laws and regulations where the entity operates. If no legal definition exists, fresh water shall be considered to be water that has less than 1,000 parts per million of dissolved solids.

2.2

Water obtained from a water utility in compliance with jurisdictional drinking water regulations can be assumed to meet the definition of fresh water.

3 The entity shall disclose the amount of water, in thousands of cubic metres,

consumed in operations.

3.1

Water consumption is defined as:

3.1.1

Water that evaporates during withdrawal, use and discharge

3.1.2

Water that is directly or indirectly included in the entity’s product or service

3.1.3

Water that does not otherwise return to the same catchment area from which it was withdrawn, such as water returned to another catchment area or the sea 4 The entity shall analyse all its operations for water risks and identify activities that withdraw and consume water in locations with High (40–80%) or Extremely High (>80%) Baseline Water Stress as classified by the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Water Risk Atlas tool, Aqueduct.

5 The entity shall disclose water withdrawn in locations with High or Extremely High Baseline Water Stress as a percentage of the total water withdrawn.

6 The entity shall disclose water consumed in locations with High or Extremely High Baseline Water Stress as a percentage of the total water consumed.

TC-IM-130a.3. Discussion of the integration of environmental considerations into strategic planning for data centre needs 1 The entity shall describe how it integrates environmental considerations,

including energy and water use, into strategic planning for data centres.

2 Discussion shall include, but is not limited to, how environmental factors impact the entity’s decisions regarding the siting, design, construction, refurbishment and operation of data centres.

2.1

Environmental factors and criteria may include:

2.1.1

Location-based environmental factors, such as regional humidity,

average temperature and water availability.

2.1.2

Environmental regulations, such as energy efficiency standards and national- or state-level carbon legislation on pricing and carbon intensity of grid electricity.

3 The scope of disclosure includes considerations for existing owned data centres,

the development of new data centres, and the outsourcing of data centre services,if relevant.

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