CSRD's First Sustainability Reporting Standards Approved (ESRS Set 1)

On the 15th October, 2023 the EFRAG (European Financial Reporting Advisory Group) approved the first set of sustainability reporting standards for the EU's new CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive). This provides CSRD compliant companies with the final general requirements and concept definitions for reporting on their company's double materiality, value chain impact, and how sustainbability information should be gathered and presented.

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Find our full CSRD Guide for packaging companies here.

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What is ESRS 1?

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Quick recap; the ESRS are two sets of sustainability reporting standards. Set 1 released in 2023, and Set 2 will release in 2024. In short, the first ESRS set includes:

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• How to comply with the ESRS 
• How to report on double materiality (imact materiality and financial materiality)
• How to report on value chain material impacts, risks, and opportunities
• How to present your sustainability information

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We summarized the ESRS 1 for you to make it a little bit more understandable. Download the ESRS 1 summary here.

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EFRAG changes in the final ESRS Set 1

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All the changes for the final ESRS set 1 by the EFRAG can be found here. Overall the EFRAG didn't make significant changes in the final set.

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The most important changes were made in the mandatory reporting on double materiality. These now:

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1. Exclude E5-4/E5-5 Circular economy;
2. Exclude G2-9 Political engagement and G2-10 Payment practices;
3. Move ESRS S1-14 Fair remuneration and ESRS S1-15 – Social security from mandatory items to items subject to materiality assessment that require a reinforced transparency; 
4. Include own workforce from S1-1 to S1-8 (adding to the 3 DR already mandatory, the DRs on policies, actions and targets –the latter mandatory only for undertakings with more than 250 employees.

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Next Steps for the ESRS 1

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Now that the draft is approved, the ESRS 1 will be reviewed, streamlined and reformatted for a final version to be released soon. Ready to be used by the first wave of compliant companies to start gathering data now for their first CSRD report in 2025.

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Pickler and the ESRS 1

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Pickler is easy product footprint software for packaging that help suppliers easily deliver E1-E5 values on a product level to CSRD compliant companies.

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‍Contact us to see how we can help you report on ESRS 1 data.

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