The ESRS Standards at a glance

|  Update: September 12, 2024

🕓 Reading time 7 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

Following the proposal of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, or CSRD for short, in April 2021, the European Council finally adopted the new EU directive on November 28, 2022. The directive on corporate sustainability reporting 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.

The first ESRS drafts (Exposure Drafts dated April 29, 2022) from EFRAG underwent a public comment round until August 2022. In November 2022, EFRAG finally published the final ESRS, which were submitted to the European Commission. In this version of the ESRS standards, a number of points have been streamlined and adjusted compared to the April drafts in order to keep the reporting burden for the CSRD reasonable. Finally, on August 9, 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.

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. 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. 

The mandatory standards have changed with the CSRD update of July 2023. Read more about the current status of the mandatory and optional ESRS here in the blog article about the CSRD update from July 2023.

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:

Video update: The ESRS mandatory standards changed in June 2023. With the exception of ESRS 2, which is always mandatory, all other ESRS are now subject to materiality analysis.