EU - Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
On January 5, 2023, a new EU directive came into force that provides rules on corporate sustainability reporting – the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This will significantly change the sustainability reporting requirements for companies. CRS reporting is therefore becoming increasingly important.
The aim of the new CSR Directive is to close previous gaps in the reporting regulations, expand the requirements overall and thus create binding standards for reporting at EU level for the first time.
Agreement on EU directive
The European Commission published the proposal for the new directive back in April 2021. The Commission was then able to agree on a compromise with the Council and the European Parliament in June 2022, which was finally formally adopted by the EU Parliament and the Council. The new directive was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on December 16, 2022.
The member states had to transpose the new directive into national law within 18 months of its entry into force, i.e. by July 2024.
Previously applicable regulations on reporting
Previously, the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) applied to certain companies within the EU and had been in force since 2014. It contained regulations for companies of public interest and aimed to enable stakeholders to better assess the contribution of the respective company to sustainability. In contrast to the regulations in the new CSRD Directive, however, the scope of application was rather limited.
Content of the new directive
The new CSR-Directive extends the reporting obligation to a large number of additional companies. From around 11,600 companies previously affected, around 49,000 companies now fall within the scope of the directive.
Specifically, the directive applies to corporations and commercial partnerships with exclusively limited liability shareholders, provided that
- it is a large company within the meaning of accounting law,
- it is a small or medium-sized enterprise within the meaning of accounting law and is capital market-oriented or
- it is a third-country company with a turnover of EUR 150 million in the EU, whose subsidiaries meet the above criteria or whose branches have a turnover of more than EUR 40 million.
Micro-enterprises are not included.
The scope of application will be gradually expanded; for financial years starting from January 1, 2024, the regulations will initially only apply to public interest entities with more than 500 employees, from 2025 they will apply to all other large companies as defined by accounting law and from 2026 they will generally apply to capital market-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises. However, the latter have the option of deferral until 2028.
The new directive contains the following important changes:
- The reporting obligation will be more comprehensive and standardized in the future. The use of key figures will result in greater quantification of the report content, which should increase the measurability and comparability of the information.
- Double materiality: The obligation of companies extends to the impact of their own business operations on people and the environment on the one hand and the impact of sustainability aspects on the company itself on the other. Only one of the materiality aspects now needs to apply.
- As with financial reporting, sustainability reporting must also be carried out externally in accordance with certain auditing standards. The depth of assurance will also be gradually expanded and thus adapted to the depth of assurance applicable to financial reporting.
- Sustainability reporting is to be a mandatory part of the management report. This should make it easier to access information on the company’s sustainability. This will give sustainability reporting the same status as financial reporting.
- Finally, a standardized electronic reporting format will also be introduced. As with financial reporting, sustainability reporting is to be disclosed in ESEF (European Single Electronic Format) – in XHTML format with XBRL tags. This ensures that the documents can be read by both humans and machines.