Recommendations for the design of sustainability reporting standards under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
Creators: name: Lautermann, Christian
name: Hoffmann, Esther
name: Young, Carla
Publisher: name: My University
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Berichtswesen
subject: Umweltmanagement
subject: Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR]
subject: non-financial reporting
subject: sustainability reporting
subject: environmental reporting
subject: climate reporting
subject: CSRD
subject: NFRD
subject: CSR
subject: reporting standards
subject: carbon neutrality
subject: Climate | Energy
subject: Economy | Consumption
subject: Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

description: Der Entwurf der Europäischen Kommission zur weiterentwickelten Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) sieht unter anderem die Entwicklung europäischer Nachhaltigkeitsberichtsstandards vor, die von allen unter den Geltungsbereich der Richtlinie fallenden Unternehmen angewandt werden sollen. Das vorliegende Policy Paper formuliert auf Basis einer umfassenden Auswertung von nicht-finanziellen Erklärungen deutscher Unternehmen und ergänzender Experteninterviews Vorschläge zur Ausgestaltung dieser Standards, um die Berichterstattung über Umweltthemen zu verbessern. Dabei geht das Papier darauf ein, welche Anforderungen an die Berichterstattung über Umweltziele, Maßnahmen und Indikatoren zu stellen sind. Neben konkretisierenden Anforderungen an die einzelnen Elemente geht es dabei insbesondere auch um eine konsistente Gesamtschau, aus der sich die Ergebnisse von Maßnahmen und ihre Beiträge zur Zielerreichung ablesen lassen. Vertieft betrachtet wird zudem das Thema Treibhausgasneutralität. Hier werden Empfehlungen gegeben, um die Berichterstattung über das Ziel Treibhausgasneutralität stärker an globale und europäische Klimaziele anzupassen und die Berichterstattung darüber aussagekräftiger zu gestalten. Empfohlen werden insbesondere eine Orientierung am Net Zero Verständnis der Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) und eine Klarstellung, dass die freiwillige Kompensation von CO2-Emissionen keine Option der Neutralisierung im Zusammenhang mit dem Net Zero Ziel ist. Ein weiterer Fokus wird darauf gelegt, wie die Berichterstattung über Umweltthemen kompatibel mit den Anforderungen an die Offenlegungsanforderungen für die Finanzbranche gestaltet werden kann. Hierfür sollten die Standards zumindest alle verpflichtenden Indikatoren für Umweltthemen enthalten, die gemäß der sog. Offenlegungsverordnung (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation - SFDR) von der Finanzbranche zu berichten sind. Hierbei sollte zu jedem Umweltthema verpflichtend zu berichten sein. Die Detailtiefe der Berichterstattung in Bezug auf themenbezogene Strategien, Politiken, Ziele und Maßnahmen sollte sich jedoch an der Relevanz der jeweiligen Themen für das Unternehmen bemessen. Quelle: Forschungsbericht
description: The European Commission's draft on the further developed Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) announces, among others, the development of European non-financial reporting standards to be applied by all companies falling under the scope of the directive. Based on a comprehensive evaluation of non-financial statements of German companies and supplementary expert interviews, this policy paper formulates proposals for the design of these standards in order to improve reporting on environmental issues. In doing so, the paper addresses the requirements to be met in reporting on environmental targets, actions and indicators. In addition to specifying requirements for the individual elements, the paper also focuses in particular on a consistent overall picture from which the results of actions and their contributions to the achievement of targets can be read. Additionally, the topic of greenhouse gas neutrality is addressed. Here, recommendations are made to align reporting on the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality more closely with global and European climate goals and to make reporting on this more meaningful. In particular, it is recommended to orient towards the Net Zero understanding of the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and to clarify that voluntary offsetting of CO2 emissions is not a neutralization option in the context of the Net Zero target. Finally, the paper focuses on how to make reporting on environmental issues compatible with disclosure requirements for the financial industry. For this purpose, the standards should at least include all mandatory adverse environmental indicators that have to be reported by the financial industry according to the so-called Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). Reporting on each environmental topic should be mandatory. However, the level of detail of the reporting with regard to topic-related strategies, policies, targets and measures should be based on the relevance of the respective topics for the company. Quelle: Forschungsbericht
description: The European Non-Financial Reporting Directive requires certain large undertakings to disclose sustainability-related information. The Directive is currently being revised and renamed to Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). One of the main innovations of the European Commission’s proposal for the CSRD is the development of uniform European Sustainability Reporting Standards. This Policy Paper contains specific recommendations for the standard setting process in order to advance meaningful reporting on environmental matters. The authors discuss how reporting requirements on climate-related and environmental targets, actions and performance indicators should be designed, what should be considered when addressing the Greenhouse Gas neutrality of undertakings and how the standards can ensure compatibility with existing disclosure obligations of financial market participants.