What are the NIS and why do they now define your access to financing?

• The Sustainability Information Standards (NIS) are Mexico's ESG reporting standard, in force since January 1, 2025, issued by CINIF.
• The first NIS report must be filed in 2026, using fiscal year 2025 data — now, not next year. 
• The NIS require disclosing 30 Basic Sustainability Indicators (IBSO), including Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 
• Colombia advances under the Financial Superintendence's Circular 031 and IFRS S1 and S2; Argentina gave its first formal regulatory signal in 2026 through the CNV. 
• Financial institutions in Mexico already use ESG criteria to assess credit risk — a company without verifiable IBSOs is a company with a higher spread.

There are companies in Mexico that have spent months collecting data to comply with the NIS. Some have dedicated sustainability teams, measurement systems and external consultants. When they sit down to review the 30 Basic Sustainability Indicators that NIS B-1 requires, they discover that at least eight of them depend on information that lives in other areas: electricity consumption per production line in Operations, waste data in the Plant, pay-gap metrics in Human Resources. The Sustainability team has been waiting weeks for a reply. The fiscal year 2025 close is approaching.

That friction is not a problem of will. It is a problem of data infrastructure. And it is exactly what the NIS expose. 
 

The Sustainability Information Standards (NIS) are the framework that the Mexican Council for Financial and Sustainability Information Standards (CINIF) published in May 2024, in force since January 1, 2025. If your company reports under the Financial Information Standards (NIF), the NIS already apply to you. The first report, using fiscal year 2025 data, must be filed in 2026. 
 

The questions that come up most when someone in Mexico, Colombia or Argentina looks for information on this topic are precisely the ones this article answers: What exactly are the NIS? What are the 30 IBSOs and how are they calculated? What is the difference between the Mexican NIS and the international IFRS S1 and S2? How does this apply in Colombia and Argentina? And what does all of this have to do with the cost of your debt? 
 

Without auditable primary data, the NIS aren't a report: they're risk. That is the reality this article develops, with the data and regulatory context you need to make decisions — not just to comply.

The NIS are the set of standards issued by CINIF to regulate the measurement, preparation and disclosure of environmental, social and governance (ESG) information by private companies in Mexico.

In May 2024, CINIF published the first two standards in the series: NIS A-1 and NIS B-1. As established by CINIF itself, NIS A-1 defines the conceptual framework — the principles of quality, relevance and verifiability that all sustainability information must meet, following the four-pillar structure of the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures): governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets. NIS B-1, in turn, sets the criteria to identify and disclose the 30 Basic Sustainability Indicators, known as IBSOs.

What nobody usually mentions when explaining what the NIS are is what happens in practice when a company tries to calculate those 30 indicators. Sixteen of them are environmental — and they include Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions, water consumption, waste management and energy use. Scope 3, which according to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) represents on average more than 70% of the total footprint in manufacturing industries, may be omitted in the first year of application. But only the first year. From the 2026 report using fiscal year 2026 data onward, there will be no further extension. The bank reviewing your green credit file in 2027 will check whether that number is there or not, and what it will read in its absence is unmanaged risk.

The NIS are not an accounting formality. They are documentary proof that a company can manage its environmental, social and governance risks with verifiable data — and that proof has a price in capital markets. 
 

Financial institutions in Mexico already use ESG criteria to assess the risk of their credit portfolios. As documented by Forvis Mazars, presenting sustainability information under the NIS can translate into better credit conditions; the lack of that information, on the other hand, can make access to new credit harder because lenders perceive unmanaged risks. The mechanism is direct: a file without verifiable IBSOs reaches the credit committee with an information gap the analyst cannot ignore. It is not that the bank rejects the application — it is that it rates it as higher risk, and that risk translates into spread. 
 

The financial impact goes beyond credit. In Mexico, the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) applies carbon-intensity-adjusted tariffs to exporters from 2026. A Mexican company that exports steel, aluminum, cement or fertilizers to Europe without verified primary emissions data does not just pay the CBAM tariff — it pays the highest tariff because it cannot demonstrate that its carbon intensity is below the sector average. The data the NIS require is exactly the data CBAM needs. A good implementation solves both fronts at once. Without primary data, the NIS aren't a report: they're risk.

What the company that implements well gains:

• Access to preferential credit conditions. Financial institutions in Mexico already assess ESG criteria in their risk analysis. A NIS report with verifiable primary data is a credit argument, not just a compliance one. 
• An advanced position with European buyers. Companies that export to the European Union under CSRD pressure need suppliers with structured ESG data. The IBSOs of NIS B-1 are compatible with those requirements. 
• Internal visibility of hidden costs. Measuring energy consumption per line, waste management and emissions per monetary unit of revenue reveals operational inefficiencies the income statement does not capture. Several companies we have worked with found savings opportunities that were only visible once they measured. 
• A basis for SBTi targets. Companies that want to validate targets before the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) need robust baseline data. The IBSOs are that starting point.

What complicates implementation: 
 

• Data lives in silos. Electricity consumption in Operations, waste in the Plant, personnel data in HR, supplier emissions in Procurement. NIS B-1 asks that all that data arrive at the same place, in the same format, with the same reference period. That does not happen on its own. 
• Scope 3 is technically demanding. Without primary supplier data, the only alternative is to use sector averages — and the GHG Protocol establishes that estimates based on averages are less precise than primary data. Auditors know it. 
• Assurance is a separate process. Standard financial audits do not cover the IBSOs. If a bank or client requires independent assurance of the NIS report, that requires an additional process under ISSA 5000, ISAE 3000 or the IMCP's Attestation Standard 7010.

The uncomfortable truth nobody says out loud in sustainability meetings is this: most of the "cons" are not of the NIS themselves. They are of operating without data infrastructure. A company with structured, traceable primary data has no disadvantages in this process — it has a competitive advantage. The problem is not the standard. It is the 2021 spreadsheet no one has touched since.

The most frequent confusion in Mexico is what the difference is between CINIF's NIS and the International Sustainability Standards Board's (ISSB) IFRS S1 and S2, and whether complying with one implies complying with the other.

The NIS are the standard for private companies that report under NIF — the broadest universe of industrial companies in Mexico. IFRS S1 and S2 apply to issuers and listed companies. Both frameworks follow the TCFD architecture and are compatible with each other, but they are not interchangeable: a private company reporting under NIS is not automatically complying with IFRS S1 and S2, and vice versa. 

What Bono's data infrastructure enables is that a company can build its NIS report with real primary data — not estimates — and that this same data can feed a GRI report, a CDP questionnaire or a green financing request before the IDB or NAFIN, without having to start from scratch each time.

The question we get most from sustainability directors in Mexico is: "I already know what the NIS ask for. What I don't know is how I'm going to get that data without the process taking four months and three failed meetings with Operations." 
 

The answer we always give starts from the same diagnosis: the problem is not technical, it is one of data architecture. Bono's NIS Data Framework operates in three phases

• Phase 1 — Source inventory. Before calculating a single IBSO, Bono maps where each data point required by NIS B-1 lives: which system generates it, who is responsible in each area, how often it is updated and in what format it exists today. In most industrial companies we have worked with, the data exists — the problem is that it is scattered across four different systems and none talks to the other. Energy consumption in the ERP, fleet emissions in a spreadsheet, water data in the maintenance area. The inventory takes two to three weeks. Without it, any attempt to calculate the 30 IBSOs ends in estimates an auditor will question.
• Phase 2 — Structured primary collection. Bono's infrastructure lets each area load its information directly into a shared system, with automatic validations and source traceability. Without auditable primary data, the NIS aren't a report: they're risk. That means every figure entering the system has a documented origin, a date and an owner. Not a sector average taken from the IEA. Not last year's estimate adjusted for inflation. Real data, from operations, verifiable. That difference is what separates a report that passes an audit from one that complicates it. 
• Phase 3 — Report generation and financial link. With the 30 IBSOs calculated and auditable, bono₂ generates the report in the format NIS B-1 requires — absolute and relative values per indicator, integrated as notes to the financial statements. But the work does not end there. The same data automatically feeds the company's financial risk profile: estimated CDP Score, alignment with NAFIN and IDB green financing criteria, and gaps against CBAM requirements for exporters. A manufacturing company in Mexico that implemented this process reduced its carbon reporting time from 14 weeks to 3 weeks, and with the resulting data accessed a green credit line with preferential conditions it had not been able to document before.

The regulatory landscape in LATAM in 2026 is not uniform — and that difference matters depending on where your company operates and who it sells to.

Mexico is the only one of the three countries that has a specific national standard for private companies. CINIF's NIS A-1 and B-1 came into force on January 1, 2025. The first mandatory report is filed in 2026 with fiscal year 2025 data. In addition, in June 2026 CINIF published a draft of improvements to the NIS that is under public consultation — confirming that the standard will evolve and that whoever did not build data infrastructure from the start will have to scramble to catch up with more demanding versions. For exporting companies, the pressure doubles: the EU's CBAM applies tariffs from 2026 to cement, steel, aluminum, fertilizers, electricity and hydrogen imported into Europe. Without verified emissions data, the tariff cost rises. 
 

Colombia operates under a different but equally demanding framework for companies under financial supervision. The Financial Superintendence's Circular 031 of 2021 established ESG reporting guidelines aligned with the TCFD, with a transition period that ended on December 31, 2026. The ISSB's IFRS S1 and S2 are not yet mandatory for most of the Colombian private sector, but companies that export to Europe under CSRD pressure — the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive — already need them de facto. A Colombian supplier to a European company that reports under CSRD has to deliver verifiable ESG data. If it does not have it, it loses the contract. 

Argentina is at the earliest stage of the three. In March 2026, the National Securities Commission (CNV) published General Resolution 1115/2026, which requires entities under the public offering regime to include, in their annual report, information about their environmental or sustainability policy and their main performance indicators. It is not yet a full reporting regime like the Mexican or European one — but it is the first formal regulatory signal that the direction is irreversible. Argentine agribusiness companies that export to Europe already feel CSRD pressure from their buyers. The CNV does not arrive before the European buyer does. 

In all three countries, the dynamic is the same: whoever builds data infrastructure today competes on better terms tomorrow. Whoever waits for regulation to be perfect arrives late to the contract and to the credit.

The NIS apply to all entities that prepare their financial statements under the Financial Information Standards (NIF) issued by CINIF. That includes the vast majority of private companies in Mexico. Listed issuers additionally have the obligation to report under IFRS S1 and S2 since February 2025. If your company uses NIF, the NIS already apply and the first report is in 2026 with fiscal year 2025 data.

The Basic Sustainability Indicators (IBSOs) are 30 universal metrics — 21 quantitative and 9 qualitative — that NIS B-1 requires to be disclosed in full. They are divided into three areas: 16 environmental (including Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions, water and energy consumption, and waste management), 6 social (including pay gap and workforce data) and 8 governance (including integrity policies and corporate governance). Each quantitative IBSO must be reported with an absolute value and a relative value — for example, Scope 1 emissions in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent and emissions per monetary unit of net revenue.

CINIF's NIS apply to private companies under NIF; the ISSB's IFRS S1 and S2 apply to issuers and listed companies. Both frameworks follow the TCFD architecture and are technically compatible. The key difference is scope and level of detail: IFRS S1 and S2 go further in climate scenario analysis and financial risks. A company that implements the NIS well lays the groundwork to comply with IFRS S1 and S2 when they apply — if the data is primary and auditable.

Bono builds the data infrastructure that makes it possible to calculate the 30 IBSOs with primary data — not estimates. The system centralizes information from Operations, Plant, HR and Procurement into a single traceable flow, generates the report in the NIS B-1 format, and connects that same data with the company's financial risk profile: CDP Score, eligibility for NAFIN or IDB green financing, and gaps against CBAM for exporters. The result is a report that passes audits and opens capital doors.

• If your company reports under NIF, the NIS already apply. The first report is in 2026 with fiscal year 2025 data. There is no later date to wait for.
• The 30 IBSOs need primary data, not estimates. A sector average taken from the IEA can fill the field — but an auditor or a bank will know the difference. The market does not punish emissions; it punishes opacity.
• Scope 3 is optional the first year, mandatory afterward. If you do not start building supplier data collection now, the second reporting cycle arrives without infrastructure and under more pressure.
• In Colombia and Argentina, the pressure arrives before the regulator. European buyers under CSRD require ESG data from their LATAM suppliers regardless of whether the local standard is mandatory or not. The contract is lost before the fine arrives.
• Without auditable primary data, the NIS aren't a report: they're risk. That phrase is not hyperbole — it is how the credit committee reads estimates where data should be. 
• Well-implemented NIS are financial leverage. Financial institutions in Mexico already use ESG criteria to assess credit risk. A NIS report with verifiable IBSOs is a rate argument, not just a compliance one.

Companies that reach the fiscal year 2025 close without data infrastructure will file a NIS report with estimates. The auditor will see it. The bank will read it as unmanaged risk. The European buyer that requires ESG data from its supply chain will use it as a selection criterion. 

It's not doom-mongering. It's how capital markets normally work when information is opaque.