Questions & Answers
Are ESRS 2 Appendix B datapoints (other EU legislation) applicable for all undertakings or for financial institutions only?
- ESRS 2 Appendix B (other EU legislation)
- EU data-points
Background
The question initially received by EFRAG from the submitter was referring to ESRS 1 chapter 10.2 paragraph 133 and read as follows: ‘What is the rationale for making the exception to the transitional provision for datapoints that have their origin in certain EU legislation (Appendix B of ESRS 2) applying to a very specific set of companies (e.g., financial institutions)? Why not make a separate list of datapoint exceptions with an explanation of why these datapoints are an exception?’ As similar questions related to ‘other EU legislation datapoints’ have been received by EFRAG, the question answered in this explanation was modified to be more generally applicable as stated above.
ESRS 1 paragraph 133 states: ‘For the first 3 years of its sustainability reporting under the ESRS, in order to take account of the difficulties that undertakings may encounter in gathering information from actors throughout their value chain and in order to limit the burden for SMEs in the value chain: …
(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.’
ESRS 2 Appendix B includes the list of datapoints in cross-cutting and topical standards that derive from other EU legislation. These datapoints provide information from all undertakings subject to ESRS for financial institutions to support them in financing the transition according to the ‘green deal.’
ESRS 1 paragraph 35 states: ‘If the undertaking omits the information prescribed by a datapoint that derives from other EU legislation listed in Appendix B of ESRS 2, it shall explicitly state that the information in question is “not material”.’
ESRS 2 paragraph 56 states: ‘The undertaking shall also include a table of all the datapoints that derive from other EU legislation as listed in Appendix B of this standard, indicating where they can be found in the sustainability statement and including those that the undertaking has assessed as not material, in which case the undertaking shall indicate “Not material” in the table in accordance with ESRS 1 paragraph 35.’
Answer
Yes, ESRS 2 Appendix B datapoints (other EU legislation) are applicable for all undertakings in the scope of the CSRD/ESRS.
ESRS do not specify that datapoints listed in Appendix B of ESRS 2 are exclusively applicable to undertakings in specific sectors, such as financial institutions. This is because these datapoints provide information from all ESRS-reporters enabling financial institutions to meet their obligations under the SFDR, thereby assisting them in financing the transition in alignment with the EU Green Deal, as they are designed to support the availability of information regarding their investees and clients.
Datapoints that derive from other EU legislation listed in Appendix B of ESRS 2 must be provided irrespective of the materiality assessment if the corresponding requirement is in ESRS 2 (e.g., ESRS 2 Disclosure Requirement GOV-1, Board gender diversity). If the corresponding requirement is in the topical standards, they are subject to the materiality assessment.
In all cases, the undertaking should publish a table containing all the information required by other EU legislations, specifying the page of the sustainability statement where this information is located or indicating ‘not material’ if the company has deemed it as such, as required by ESRS 2 Disclosure Requirement IRO-2.
Relations
Paragraph | Content |
|---|---|
10 Transitional provisions | |
Appendix B - List of datapoints in cross-cutting and topical standards that derive from other EU legislation | |
10.2 Transitional provision related to chapter 5 Value chain | |
Appendix B - List of datapoints in cross-cutting and topical standards that derive from other EU legislation | |
10.2 Transitional provision related to chapter 5 Value chain | |
Appendix B - List of datapoints in cross-cutting and topical standards that derive from other EU legislation | |
10 Transitional provisions | |
For the first 3 years of its sustainability reporting under the ESRS, in order to take account of the difficulties that undertakings may encounter in gathering information from actors throughout their value chain and in order to limit the burden for SMEs in the value chain: | |
If the undertaking omits the information prescribed by a datapoint that derives from other EU legislation listed in Appendix B of ESRS 2, it shall explicitly state that the information in question is “not material”. | |
For the first 3 years of its sustainability reporting under the ESRS, in order to take account of the difficulties that undertakings may encounter in gathering information from actors throughout their value chain and in order to limit the burden for SMEs in the value chain: |