ESMA publishes guidance to support sustainability reporting

Last week the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), financial markets regulator and supervisor of the European Union, published a report and a public statement on the first application of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). These documents are intended to support consistent application and supervision of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

The documents highlight the key areas of relevance for companies preparing to issue their first CSRD reports, including the establishment of governance arrangements and internal controls, designing and conducting materiality assessments, and creating connectivity between financial and sustainability information. ESMA also stressed the importance of preparing data collection and management systems to meet the requirements of the CSRD.

Also in support of companies implementing CSRD, EFRAG recently released implementation guidance and updated Q&As. See our publication for additional details.