The Commission Approves European Sustainability Reporting Standards

The Commission has approved the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) for use by all companies subject to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Mairead McGuinness, Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, stated: “The standards we have approved are ambitious and constitute an important tool supporting the EU’s sustainable finance agenda. They strike the right balance between limiting the burden on reporting companies while at the same time allowing businesses to demonstrate their efforts to meet the Green Deal Agenda and, consequently, to access sustainable finance”.
The standards cover the full spectrum of environmental, social, and governance issues, including climate change, biodiversity, and human rights. They provide information to investors to understand the sustainability impact of the companies in which they invest. They also take into account discussions with the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to ensure a very high degree of interoperability between EU standards and global standards and to avoid unnecessary double reporting by companies.