EC ADOPT EUROPEAN SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING STANDARDS
On 31 July, the European Commission adopted the delegated act (+ annex) setting out the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) which will be used by companies for their reporting requirements under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
The delegated act is comprised of twelve cross-cutting, sector-agnostic standards, introducing detailed reporting requirements on companies’ impact on the environment, human rights, social standards and governance factors. The draft standards have been prepared by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and submitted to the Commission in November 2022. The EFRAG will periodically publish additional non-binding technical guidance on the application of ESRS, especially on materiality assessment and on reporting with regard to value chains which should be published shortly.
Early July, CLECAT submitted feedback to the draft delegated act, noting the efforts of the Commission to make the standards more practical and reducing administrative burden for companies. CLECAT also suggested recognising the ISO 14083 standard to calculate and report transport emissions and align the ESRS with the CountEmissions EU proposal, but we regret that the Commission did not took these comments into account.
The delegated act has been transmitted to the Parliament and the Council for a two-month (extendable by a further two months) scrutiny period. Subject to no objections being raised by the Parliament and the Council, the new standards will become effective for the first companies to adopt from 1 January 2024.
Source: European Commission