Reference is a piece of structured information attached to a taxonomy component that provides a link to external information about the element. Conventionally references are used to provide links to the definition of a taxonomy component in authoritative literature, such as the relevant accounting standard or legislation.
This use case uses a draft reference role [https://www.xbrl.org/YYYY/role/propertyRef] that standardises the application of the reference structure to capture additional structured information about taxonomy components in a key-value pair format.
Example
The use-case specifies meta-data for two areas – ESG Topic and Disclosure Pillar for taxonomy concepts. ESG Topic can be identified as Environmental, Social or Governance for taxonomy concepts. Similarly, concepts can also be identified based on Disclosure Pillar as Strategy, Implementation or Performance measurement.
Reported sustainability data can then be analysed using this meta-data (“cross-cutting themes”):
Links
Sample Taxonomy / Reports – Taxonomy using reference structure to capture meta-data reports referencing the taxonomy.