On 18 September 2023, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group ("EFRAG") announced that it is reactivating its "sector-specific" communities (ie, stakeholder groups) and is inviting industry specialists to participate, indicating a renewed focus on the sector-specific European Sustainability Reporting Standards ("ESRS").
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ("CSRD") will require in-scope companies to report extensive sustainability information in a dedicated section of their annual reports. Reporting under CSRD must be conducted in accordance with sustainability reporting standards, adopted by the European Commission. For more information on CSRD generally, click here to see our 'CSRD at a glance' briefing note.
The Commission adopted sector-agnostic ESRS on 31 July 2023. Commissioner Mairead McGuinness had called on EFRAG to prioritise its efforts on capacity building for the implementation of this first set of sector-agnostic ESRS over the preparatory work for draft sector-specific ESRS. The latest update from EFRAG indicates that the sector-specific ESRS are back on its agenda.
EFRAG's current multi-year work plan covers high impact and financial institutions sectors. EFRAG is now allowing participants to register to take part in its "sector-specific" stakeholder groups in respect of the following areas:
- agriculture, farming and fishing;
- food and beverage services;
- mining, coal and quarrying;
- motor vehicles;
- oil and gas;
- power production and energy utilities;
- road transport; and
- textiles, accessories, footwear and jewellery.
EFRAG has indicated that it expects to allow participants from the sectors of capital markets / investments, insurance, lending and banking to register at a later stage.
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