Update
14.01.2025
January 2025:

EFRAG publishes new Q&As on ESRS
On 24 December, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) added three new explanations of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) to its ESRS Q&A platform, bringing the total number of explanations to 162. The new Q&As address: (i) the possibility for credit institutions to omit reporting in absolute values on their intensity-based GHG reduction targets during the first three years of reporting; (ii) the possibility to limit disclosures on biodiversity to the undertaking’s upstream or downstream; and (iii) the scope of certain disclosure requirements in ESRS E4. These explanations will be included in the next update to the Compilation of Explanations, expected in spring 2025.

Dutch accountants’ institute publishes statement on CSRD assurance
On 20 December, the Royal Netherlands Institute of Chartered Accountants (NBA) issued a statement on the assurance of sustainability statements by Dutch companies under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Since the CSRD has not yet been implemented into Dutch law, accountants lack a legal basis for this assurance. The NBA advises accountants to act in line with the legislative proposals as much as possible. The accountant’s assurance must address the fundamental qualitative characteristics of the ESRS, which include relevance and faithful representation, as well as their reinforcing qualitative characteristics: comparability, verifiability and understandability.

EFRAG publishes voluntary reporting standard for micro-, small-, and medium-sized undertakings
On 17 December, EFRAG delivered its technical advice on the voluntary reporting standard for non-listed micro-, small-, and medium-sized undertakings (VSME). Based on market acceptance, the VSME provides a standardised set of information to replace the current multiple and uncoordinated questionnaires and ESG data requests. It includes a basic module and a comprehensive module, which are expected to meet a substantial part of the requests that SMEs currently receive from business partners, such as banks, investors and large corporates. The VSME includes disclosures for undertakings across sectors. However, a few additional data requests may be required to reflect the specificities of some sectors. The VSME is accompanied by a series of educational videos.

EU Platform on Sustainable Finance publishes briefing on SFDR revision
On 17 December, the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance (PSF) published a briefing in response to the EU public consultation on the revision of the SFDR. The PSF recommends establishing four product categories: (i) sustainable; (ii) transition; (iii) ESG collection; and (iv) unclassified products. ‘Sustainable’ products must meet a minimum percentage of EU Taxonomy-alignment or alignment with the SFDR definition of sustainable investments and PAI thresholds. ‘Transition’ products must foster the transition to a net zero and overall sustainable economy by 2050, and milestones in line with these EU goals, based on a legal definition of impact investing. ‘ESG collection’ products select or exclude sectors or companies based on their ESG performance. The ESAs already proposed the first and second categories in June 2024; the third category is additional to the ESAs’ proposal.

ESMA publishes consultation paper on ESEF application for sustainability reporting
On 13 December 2024, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released a consultation paper, including Annex VII (core ESRS taxonomy), Annex VIII (core Article 8 taxonomy), and a Taxonomy set prototype. The paper explores how the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) can be applied to sustainability reporting. It aims to reduce the burden of financial reporting. The digitised sustainability and financial data will be integrated into the future European Single Access Point (ESAP) for easier access and use by investors. Key proposals are: (i) defining tagging rules for sustainability reporting, with phased implementation over three steps, each lasting two years, and full implementation for Article 8 information; (ii) redefining tagging for notes in consolidated IFRS financial statements; and (iii) amending technical standards related to the European electronic access point. The consultation is open until 31 March 2025, with a final report expected in Q3 2025.

AFM publishes ‘market watch’ on CSRD and green bonds
On 10 December, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) published the twelfth edition of its AFM Market Watch, focusing on its supervision on the CSRD and the EU Green Bond Regulation. Key points regarding CSRD-related data include reliability, clarity, and consistency, which must be clearly presented and substantiated. The AFM acknowledges the challenges companies face in implementing new regulations and encourages progress over perfection in the initial phase. However, issuers in regulated prospectuses must provide a sustainability report covering key material topics and a prospectus containing material sustainability information for investors. AFM will act on clear violations.

EFRAG publishes new compilation of technical ESRS explanations
On 6 December, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) published 64 new explanations on the ESRS, including a mapping of sustainability matters to topical disclosures. These explanations cover expected decimals, time horizons, intensity-emission and absolute-emission targets, anticipated financial effects, and the structure of sustainability statements. The mapping supports undertakings in determining disclosure requirements related to specific material sustainability matters in the corresponding topical ESRS. The mapping takes these differences of architecture of topical standards into account and provides an overview of direct links between matters and Disclosure Requirements or datapoints.

Previous updates

Related articles

Cookie notification

This functionality uses third-party cookies. Change your cookie preferences to view this content or view more information.
These cookies ensure that the website works properly. These cookies cannot be disabled.
These cookies can be placed by third parties, such as YouTube or Vimeo.
By deactivating categories, it is possible that related functionalities within the website may no longer work properly. It is always possible to change your preferences at a later time. View more information.