The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is new EU legislation that requires all large companies to publish reports on their activities that have an environmental and social impact. The aim, among other things, is to help investors, consumers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to assess the non-financial performance of large companies.
The recent CSRD Directive increases the number of companies required to publish reports on non-financial data and sets a common framework for the publication of the data.
Until recently, the NFRD covered 11,000 companies that were required to submit sustainability reports, while the CSRD brings this number to almost 50,000 companies.
At least two of the following three criteria must be met by a company, whether listed or unlisted, in order to submit such a report:
(a) More than 250 employees,
(b) Net turnover exceeding EUR 40 million,
(c) Assets exceeding EUR 20 million.
Under the CSRD, a double materiality analysis will be performed to identify ESG risks and opportunities in companies and their impact on people and the planet. In addition, ESG reporting will be integrated into financial and management disclosure reporting. The new directive will require an independent agency to audit the reported information.
The data reported in the report must be aligned with the European sustainability reporting standards (ESRS) that companies must follow for their sustainability reporting. Their format is similar to that of the GRI Standards but requires more detail. Like the GRI Standards, the ESRS standards are divided into general, environmental, social, and governance disclosures. A major change is the addition of detailed disclosures on climate change, mitigation strategies and plans, as well as climate risks, opportunities, and scenario analysis.
Companies should prepare their financial statements and management report in a single format (ESEF) of XHTML electronic reporting in accordance with Article 3 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/815. They should "tag" their sustainability information according to a digital categorization system to be developed in conjunction with the sustainability reporting standards.
According to the European Council the new directive will be implemented in the following four stages:
Reporting in 2025 for the 2024 fiscal year for companies already subject to the NFRD.
Reporting in 2026 for the fiscal year 2025 for large companies not currently subject to the NFRD.
Reporting in 2027 for the fiscal year 2026 for listed SMEs (excluding micro-enterprises), small and non-complex credit institutions, and captive insurance companies.
Reporting in 2029 for the fiscal year 2028 for third-country firms with a net turnover of more than 150 million in the EU, if they have at least one subsidiary or branch in the EU above certain thresholds.
Until recently, companies have published data in different ways and this has resulted in insufficient information for investors and other stakeholders. Several reports were of poor quality and this had a knock-on effect, particularly on sustainable investment. Now, the new reporting system has a common and clear way of reporting the company’s sustainability data in a standardized digital format.
E-ON INTEGRATION has developed the E-ON RIBIA ESG platform for the collection, recording, and management of ESG data. GRI Standards and ATHEX standards already exist in RIBIA ESG, but the final ESRS standards will be integrated once they are in their final valid form. The integration of the new standards into the system will be in the appropriate format to meet EU regulations and will enable investors and other stakeholders to assess each company's sustainability reporting.