ESRS standards - Reporting obligations in EU

The European Sustainability Reporting Standards

On 31 July 2023, the European Commission (EC) adopted the final delegated act of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). The delegated act, including its appendices, is available in all EU Member States’ languages. The ESRS are the sustainability reporting standards that underpin the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). 

The aim of the CSRD, which has been in force since January 2023, is to bring sustainability reporting on a par with financial reporting. To achieve this objective, companies must provide relevant, comparable and reliable information on their sustainability-related impacts, risks and opportunities. The ESRS include detailed and standardised disclosure requirements for companies to report on environmental, social and governance matters.

The ESRS consists of 12 standards, including two cross-cutting standards and ten topical standards. The cross-cutting standards define the general reporting principles and the CSRD fundamental concepts, including double materiality and reporting boundaries, as well as the overarching disclosures that are to be provided by all companies within the scope of the CSRD. The ten topical standards include specific reporting requirements for environmental, social and governance matters.

Materiality assessment

All standards, with the exception of ESRS 2, 'General disclosures', are subject to materiality assessment. Companies must determine which sustainability matters in terms of information (standard, disclosure requirement, or data point) are to be considered material on the basis of their materiality assessment.