April 21, 2021. The Commission has adopted a proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) that would amend existing reporting requirements under the non-financial reporting directive. The proposed directive

• extends the scope of application to all large companies (more than 500 employees) as well as all companies listed on regulated markets (except listed micro-enterprises),
• requires verification of the reported information,
• introduces more detailed reporting requirements and a reporting requirement in accordance with the binding EU standards for sustainability reporting,
• requires the information in digital form – “digital tagging” – so that it is machine-readable. The directive explicitly refers to the introduced “digital tagging” in the context of financial reporting data with ESEF – European Single Electronic Format (see directive ibid., footnote 15).

According to this proposal, future sustainability reporting will be based on the technological basis of iXBRL/ESEF (draft guidelines, see paragraph 48 and Article 19d).

Sustainability reporting should be published centrally via the new European Single Access Point (ESAP).

Sources:

• EU Commission, communication Sustainable finance package, April 21, 2021
• EU Commission, draft directive, April 21, 2021