ESRS

The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are the standards that translate the CSRD's reporting obligation into specific disclosure requirements. Technical advice on the standards was developed by EFRAG and the standards were adopted by the European Commission.

The first set is cross-cutting and topical. The cross-cutting standards (ESRS 1 and ESRS 2) set general principles and general disclosures, including how to run the double materiality assessment. The topical standards cover environment (climate change, pollution, water and marine resources, biodiversity and ecosystems, resource use and circular economy), social (own workforce, workers in the value chain, affected communities, consumers and end-users), and governance (business conduct).

A central mechanism is the materiality assessment: rather than reporting every datapoint, a company reports the topics that are material under the double materiality test, while always reporting the general disclosures. This makes the materiality process itself a core competency for reporting teams.

ESRS is the practical center of gravity for CSRD reporting work, so familiarity with the standards is widely expected in EU sustainability reporting and ESG data roles.