European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) – a doable task!
Five standards for environmental issues
The consultation phase on the draft of the delegated regulation of the European Commission on the ESRS finished on 9/7/2023. The ESRS are based on four pillars: cross-cutting standards, environment, social and governance.
bifa analysed the ESRS standards for environmental issues and determined that the materiality above all for “E1 climate change” followed by “E5 circular economy” applies to most companies. Reporting of “E2 Pollution” is required, especially for production companies that are affected by immission control regulations. The “E3 Water and marine resources” and “E4 Biodiversity and ecosystems” standards are more likely irrelevant for individual industries.
Required data are easy to determine
Data on energy consumption and the energy mix for the circular economy and data on resource inflows and outflows (including waste) must be disclosed for the climate change part of the reporting. Companies with energy management and waste representatives must document most of this information anyway in the respective annual report, which is why the additional work for many companies will keep within reasonable limits. Reports according to the ESRS are a doable task!