The ESRS Standards at a glance

|  Update: 16. Juli 2025

🕓 Reading time 10 minutes

Table of contents

1. Background and development of EFRAG’s ESRS standards

2. Overview of the individual ESRS standards

     ☛ Here you can find the ESRS Standards for download

3. Which ESRS standards must be reported?

4. What changes compared to previous Carbon Accounting and Reporting Standards?

1. Background and development of EFRAG’s ESRS standards

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, or CSRD for short, is a new directive on sustainability reporting in companies. It now introduces clearly defined standards: the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).

Until now, companies were free to choose the type and method of publication of sustainability reporting. The impact of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive includes mandatory publication in the annual report. At the same time, the legal requirements of the EU are being aligned with the binding European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) set uniformly by EFRAG.

EFRAG’s first ESRS drafts (Exposure Drafts of 29 April 2022) underwent a public comment round until August 2022. In November 2022 EFRAG finally decided ESRS published, which the European Kommission übermittelt wurden. In dieser Version wurden gegenüber der Entwürfe von April noch einige Punkte verschlankt.

On August 9, 2024, a second correction to the German translation of ESRS Set 1 was published in the EU Official Journal. It includes some linguistic changes and applies only to the German version.

On July 10, 2025, EFRAG published internal, uncoordinated Exposure Drafts on the revised ESRS texts – however, these are still under discussion and revision.

The most recent amendment was made with the so-called “Quick Fix” by the European Commission on July 11, 2025. This delegated act clarified and adjusted certain provisions, in particular regarding the omission of certain disclosure requirements for Wave 1 companies in the 2025 and 2026 financial years.

2. Overview of the individual ESRS standards

European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) as of July 31, 2023:

Cross-cutting standards

• ESRS 1 General principles
• ESRS 2 General disclosures

Environment

• ESRS E1 Climate change →  To the ESRS E1 blog post
• ESRS E2 Pollution
• ESRS E3 Water and marine resources
• ESRS E4 Biodiversity and ecosystems
• ESRS E5 Resource use and circular economy

Social

• ESRS S1 Own workforce
• ESRS S2 Workers in the value chain
• ESRS S3 Affected communities
• ESRS S4 Consumers and end-users

Corporate governance

• ESRS G1 Business conduct

3. Timeline: Which ESRS standards must be reported? 

November 2022: Green light for the CSRD 

On November 28, 2022 the European Council had finally given green light for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) which came into force on 5 January 2023.

As of November 2022, the mandatory standards included, first, the General Disclosures and Governance Disclosures (ESRS 2), and, second, for companies with 250 or more employees, the ESRS S1 Own Workforce and, thirdly, the EFRAG Standard ESRS E1 Climate Change. Whether further standards need to be reported should depend on their materiality for the company at the time and be assessed on an individual basis.

June 2023: Simplified drafts of the ESRS

In June 2023, the EU presented a revised version of the first set of 12 ESRSs, incorporating some simplifications, for re-opening the consultation. With the exception of ESRS 2, which is always mandatory, all other ESRSs are now subject to materiality analysis.

August 2023: Final adoption of the ESRS

On 31 July 2023, the EU Commission adopted the delegated act for Set 1 of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). This establishes the binding standards for sustainability reporting in the EU.

With the exception of ESRS 2, which is always mandatory, all other ESRSs must now undergo a materiality analysis. In addition, all reporting requirements and data points related to ESRS 2 IRO-1 (Description of the process for identifying and assessing material impacts, risks, and opportunities) are mandatory regardless of the company's materiality analysis, provided they are listed in the environmental standards (ESRS E1 to E5) or ESRS G1. 

4. What changes compared to previous Carbon Accounting and Reporting Standards?

The European Sustainability Reporting Standards contain specific applicable practices, calculations, and reporting layouts. The ESRS Climate Change is based, among other things, on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the most important internationally recognized standard for recording greenhouse gas emissions. It retains its relevance even with the new ESRS standards, as it represents an important technical basis. For example, the breakdown of emissions into Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 is used in the ESRS E1. The GHG categorisation of the Scope 3 subcategories is also central to the new standard.

In particular, the reporting of Scope 3 emissions in accordance with the ESRS E1 Climate Change standard presents many companies with new challenges. There are data gaps that need to be filled and uncertainties as to which data is actually required for recognized accounting. For these reasons, the approach to Scope 3 emissions in particular should be supported by experts.

Based on the essence of our practical experience, our team at Green Vision Solutions has developed a clear and TÜV-certified process for the corporate carbon footprint – and has already successfully applied it to over 200 companies. We work with you to collect Scope 1, 2, and 3 – guaranteed to be simple and requiring no prior knowledge on your part: