OJEU publishes the first set of sustainability reporting standards (ESRS)

On July 31, 2023 the European Commission approved the delegated act publishing the first package of reporting standards - European Reporting Standards (ESRS) -, in compliance with the mandate in the CRSD, as we detailed in our publication dated August 2 on reporting standards.

In this context, on December 22, 2023, the OJEU published Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 of 31 July 2023, adopted by the European Commission, supplementing the CSRD, as regards sustainability reporting standards. In its own wording, the regulation should enter into force on the third day following its publication and will be applicable for fiscal years starting on or after January 1, 2024.

These standards specify the sustainability-related information that companies will have to disclose (and, among other elements, on their material impacts, risks and opportunities in relation to environmental, social and governance matters), in the uniform presentation format specified in them.

The specific ones that have been published are two cross-cutting standards (ESRS 1 and ESRS 2), five specific standards for environmental information (climate change, pollution, water and marine resources, biodiversity and ecosystems and resource use and circular economy - ESRS E1 through E5 -), four for social information (own workforce, workers in the value chain, affected communities and consumers and end users -ESRS S1 through S4-) and one for governance information, on business conduct (ESRS G1).

Sector-specific standards have yet to be adopted along with standards for assurance on sustainability reporting, but the publication of this first set of ESRS should bring certainty in the preparation of sustainability reports to the large companies and groups of companies required to fulfill the CSRD's obligations in 2024, while the process for approving the draft bill for the law that will transpose the CSRD in Spain is under way.