ESRS

What it means

The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) specify the sustainability information an undertaking must disclose under the CSRD. They were developed by EFRAG and adopted by the European Commission as a delegated act (the first set, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772).

Set 1 has two cross-cutting standards, ESRS 1 (General requirements) and ESRS 2 (General disclosures, always mandatory), plus ten topical standards: environment (E1 Climate change, E2 Pollution, E3 Water and marine resources, E4 Biodiversity, E5 Resource use and circular economy), social (S1 Own workforce, S2 Workers in the value chain, S3 Affected communities, S4 Consumers and end-users) and governance (G1 Business conduct).

Why it matters

The ESRS turn the CSRD obligation into concrete datapoints. Which topical disclosures apply is decided by the double-materiality assessment; only ESRS 2 is mandatory regardless of materiality.

How it relates to nearby concepts

The ESRS operationalise CSRD, are reported through the sustainability statement, are driven by impacts, risks and opportunities, and have their own digital (XBRL) taxonomy for tagging.

Common misunderstandings

• A company must report every ESRS datapoint: Only ESRS 2 general disclosures are mandatory regardless of materiality; topical disclosures follow the double-materiality assessment.