(a)

cross-cutting standards;

(b)

topical standards (Environmental, Social and Governance standards); and

(c)

sector-specific standards.

(a)

Governance (GOV): the governance processes, controls and procedures used to monitor, manage and oversee impacts, risks and opportunities (see ESRS 2, chapter 2 Governance);

(b)

Strategy (SBM): how the undertaking’s strategy and business model interact with its material impacts, risks and opportunities, including how the undertaking addresses those impacts, risks and opportunities (see ESRS 2, chapter 3 Strategy);

(c)

Impact, risk and opportunity management (IRO): the process(es) by which the undertaking:

(d)

Metrics and targets (MT): the undertaking’s performance, including targets it has set and progress towards meeting them (see ESRS 2, chapter 5 Metrics and targets).

(a)

in section 4.2 Minimum Disclosure Requirements regarding policies (MDR-P) and actions (MDR-A);

(b)

in section 5 Minimum Disclosure Requirements regarding metrics (MDR-M) and targets (MDR-T).

(a)

the term “ impacts ” refers to positive and negative sustainability-related impacts that are connected with the undertaking’s business, as identified through an impact materiality assessment (see section 3.4 Impact materiality). It refers both to actual impacts and to potential future impacts.

(b)

The term “ risks and opportunities ” refers to the undertaking’s sustainability-related financial risks and opportunities, including those deriving from dependencies on natural, human and social resources, as identified through a financial materiality assessment (see section 3.5).

(a)

“shall disclose” – indicates that the provision is prescribed by a Disclosure Requirement or datapoint;

(b)

“may disclose” – indicates voluntary disclosure to encourage good practice.

(a)

the fundamental qualitative characteristics of information, i.e. relevance and faithful representation; and

(b)

the enhancing qualitative characteristics of information, i.e. comparability, verifiability and understandability.

(a)

affected stakeholders: individuals or groups whose interests are affected or could be affected – positively or negatively – by the undertaking’s activities and its direct and indirect business relationships across its value chain ; and

(b)

users of sustainability statements : primary users of general-purpose financial reporting (existing and potential investors, lenders and other creditors, including asset managers, credit institutions, insurance undertakings), and other users of sustainability statements, including the undertaking’s business partners, trade unions and social partners, civil society and non-governmental organisations, governments, analysts and academics.

(a)

disclose information according to the Disclosure Requirements (including Application Requirements) related to that specific sustainability matter in the corresponding topical and sector-specific ESRS; and

(b)

disclose additional entity-specific disclosures (see paragraph 11 and AR 1 to AR 5 of this Standard) when the material sustainability matter is not covered by an ESRS or is covered with insufficient granularity.

(a)

the significance of the information in relation to the matter it purports to depict or explain; or

(b)

the capacity of such information to meet the users’ decision-making needs, including the needs of primary users of general-purpose financial reporting described in paragraph 48 and/or the needs of users whose principal interest is in information about the undertaking’s impacts.

(a)

shall include the information prescribed by a Disclosure Requirement if it assesses such information to be material; and

(b)

may omit the information prescribed by a datapoint of a Disclosure Requirement if it assesses such information to be not material and concludes that such information is not needed to meet the objective of the Disclosure Requirement.

(a)

the information it discloses on metrics for a material sustainability matter according to the Metrics and Targets section of the relevant topical ESRS, in accordance with paragraph 34; and

(b)

the information to be disclosed as entity-specific disclosures.

(a)

the scale;

(b)

scope; and

(c)

irremediable character of the impact.

(a)

the scale and scope of the impact for actual impacts; and

(b)

the scale, scope and likelihood of the impact for potential impacts.

(a)

they may influence the undertaking’s ability to continue to use or obtain the resources needed in its business processes, as well as the quality and pricing of those resources; and

(b)

they may affect the undertaking’s ability to rely on relationships needed in its business processes on acceptable terms.

(a)

an action plan to decarbonise production that involves abandoning certain products might have material negative impacts on the undertaking’s own workforce and result in material risks due to redundancy payments; or

(b)

an action plan of an automotive supplier to focus on the supply of e-vehicles might lead to stranded assets for the production of supply parts for conventional vehicles.

(a)

disclose the existence of material negative impacts or material risks together with the actions that generate them, with a cross-reference to the topic to which the impacts or risks relate; and

(b)

provide a description of how the material negative impacts or material risks are addressed under the topic to which they relate.

(a)

by country, when there are significant variations of material impacts, risks and opportunities across countries and when presenting the information at a higher level of aggregation would obscure material information about impacts, risks or opportunities; or

(b)

by significant site or by significant asset, when material impacts, risks and opportunities are highly dependent on a specific location or asset.

(a)

embedding due diligence in governance, strategy and business model (3). This is addressed under:

(b)

engaging with affected stakeholders  (4). This is addressed under:

(c)

identifying and assessing negative impacts on people and the environment (5). This is addressed under:

(d)

taking action to address negative impacts on people and the environment (6). This is addressed under:

(e)

tracking the effectiveness of these efforts (7). This is addressed under:

(a)

following the outcome of its due diligence process and of its materiality assessment; and

(b)

in accordance with any specific requirements related to the value chain in other ESRS.

(a)

allow users of sustainability statements to understand the undertaking’s material impacts, risks and opportunities ; and/or

(b)

produce a set of information that meets the qualitative characteristics of information (see Appendix B of this Standard).

(a)

for the short-term time horizon: the period adopted by the undertaking as the reporting period in its financial statements;

(b)

for the medium-term time horizon: from the end of the short-term reporting period defined in (a) up to 5 years; and

(c)

for the long-term time horizon: more than 5 years.

(a)

the difference between the figure reported in the previous period and the revised comparative figure; and

(b)

the reasons for the revision of the figure.

(a)

the potential financial effects of the events (the possible outcome);

(b)

the severity and likelihood of the impacts on people or the environment resulting from the possible events, taking account of the factors of severity specified in paragraph 45; and

(c)

the full range of possible outcomes and the likelihood of the possible outcomes within that range.

(a)

redefined or replaced a metric or target;

(b)

identified new information in relation to the estimated figures disclosed in the preceding period and the new information provides evidence of circumstances that existed in that period.

(a)

was available when the management report that includes the sustainability statement for those periods was authorised for issuance; and

(b)

could reasonably be expected to have been obtained and considered in the preparation of sustainability disclosures included in these reports.

(a)

is secret in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its components, generally known among or readily accessible to persons within the circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question;

(b)

has commercial value because it is secret; and

(c)

has been subject to reasonable steps by the undertaking to keep it secret.

(a)

whether the opportunity is currently being pursued and is incorporated in its general strategy, as opposed to a general opportunity for the undertaking or the sector; and

(b)

whether the inclusion of quantitative measures of anticipated financial effects is appropriate, taking into account the number of assumptions that it could require and consequential uncertainty.

(a)

in a way that allows a distinction between information required by disclosures in ESRS and other information included in the management report; and

(b)

under a structure that facilitates access to and understanding of the sustainability statement , in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable.

(a)

be clearly identified with an appropriate reference to the related legislation, standard or framework (see ESRS 2 BP-2, paragraph 15);

(b)

meet the requirements for qualitative characteristics of information specified in chapter 2 and Appendix B of this standard.

(a)

another section of the management report;

(b)

the financial statements;

(c)

the corporate governance statement (if not part of the management report);

(d)

the remuneration report required by Directive 2007/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (9);

(e)

the universal registration document, as referred to in Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (10); and

(f)

public disclosures under Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Pillar 3 disclosures) (11). If the undertaking incorporates by reference information from Pillar 3 disclosures, it shall ensure that the information matches the scope of consolidation used for the sustainability statement by complementing the incorporated information with additional elements as necessary.

(a)

constitute a separate element of information and are clearly identified in the document concerned as addressing the relevant Disclosure Requirement, or the relevant specific datapoint prescribed by a Disclosure Requirement;

(b)

are published before or at the same time as the management report;

(c)

are in the same language as the sustainability statement;

(d)

are subject to at least the same level of assurance as the sustainability statement; and

(e)

meet the same technical digitalisation requirements as the sustainability statement.

(a)

monetary amounts or other quantitative data linked to monetary amounts or other quantitative data presented in the financial statements; or

(b)

qualitative information linked to qualitative information presented in the financial statements.

(a)

when the same metric is presented as of the reporting date in financial statements and as a forecast for future periods in the sustainability statement ; and

(b)

when macroeconomic or business projections are used to develop metrics in the sustainability statement and they are also relevant in estimating the recoverable amount of assets, the amount of liabilities or provisions in financial statements.

(a)

introduce in its reporting those entity-specific disclosures that it reported in prior periods, if these disclosures meet or are adapted to meet the qualitative characteristics of information referred to under chapter 2 of this Standard; and

(b)

complement its disclosures prepared on the basis of the topical ESRS with an appropriate set of additional disclosures to cover sustainability matters that are material for the undertaking in its sector(s), using available best practice and/or available frameworks or reporting standards, such as IFRS industry-based guidance and GRI Sector Standards.

(a)

when disclosing information on policies, actions and targets in accordance with ESRS2 and other ESRS, the undertaking may limit upstream and downstream value chain information to information available in-house, such as data already available to the undertaking and publicly available information; and

(b)

when disclosing metrics , the undertaking is not required to include upstream and downstream value chain information, except for datapoints derived from other EU legislation, as listed in ESRS 2 Appendix B.

(a)

in all instances for the requirements in topical standards related to Disclosure Requirement IRO-1 Description of the processes to identify and assess material impacts , risks and opportunities ; and

(b)

for all other requirements listed in appendix C, only if the sustainability topic is material based on the undertaking’s materiality assessment (see ESRS 1 chapter 3 Double materiality as the basis for sustainability disclosures).

(a)

whether the sustainability statement has been prepared on a consolidated or individual basis;

(b)

for consolidated sustainability statements:

(c)

to what extent the sustainability statement covers the undertaking’s upstream and downstream value chain (see ESRS 1 section 5.1 Reporting undertaking and value chain);

(d)

whether the undertaking has used the option to omit a specific piece of information corresponding to intellectual property, know-how or the results of innovation (see ESRS 1 section 7.7 Classified and sensitive information and information on intellectual property, know-how or results of innovation); and

(e)

for undertakings based in an EU member state that allows for the exemption from disclosure of impending developments or matters in the course of negotiation, as provided for in articles 19a(3) and 29a(3) of Directive 2013/34/EU, whether the undertaking has used that exemption.

(a)

its definitions of medium- or long-term time horizons; and

(b)

the reasons for applying those definitions.

(a)

identify the metrics;

(b)

describe the basis for preparation;

(c)

describe the resulting level of accuracy; and

(d)

where applicable, describe the planned actions to improve the accuracy in the future (see ESRS 1 chapter 5 Value chain).

(a)

identify the quantitative metrics and monetary amounts it has disclosed that are subject to a high level of measurement uncertainty;

(b)

in relation to each quantitative metric and monetary amount identified:

(a)

explain the changes and the reasons for them, including why the replaced metric provides more useful information;

(b)

disclose revised comparative figures, unless it is impracticable to do so. When it is impracticable to adjust comparative information for one or more prior periods, the undertaking shall disclose that fact; and

(c)

disclose the difference between the figure disclosed in the preceding period and the revised comparative figure.

(a)

the nature of the prior period material error;

(b)

to the extent practicable, the correction for each prior period included in the sustainability statement; and

(c)

if correction of the error is not practicable, the circumstances that led to the existence of that condition.

(a)

disclose the list of matters (i.e. topic, sub-topic or sub-sub-topic) in AR 16 ESRS 1 Appendix A that are assessed to be material and briefly describe how the undertaking’s business model and strategy take account of the impacts of the undertaking related to those matters. The undertaking may identify the matter at the level of topic, sub-topic or sub-sub-topic;

(b)

briefly describe any time-bound targets it has set related to the matters in question, the progress it has made towards achieving those targets, and whether its targets related to biodiversity and ecosystems are based on conclusive scientific evidence;

(c)

briefly describe its policies in relation to the matters in question;

(d)

briefly describe actions it has taken to identify, monitor, prevent, mitigate, remediate or bring an end to actual or potential adverse impacts related to the matters in question, and the result of such actions; and

(e)

disclose metrics relevant to the matters in question.