Non-EU sustainability reporting standards to support GO demand

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires both EU and non-EU companies to disclose sustainability information. EU companies report under the simplified European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), whilst non-EU undertakings with significant activities in the Union will follow a separate set of standards, for which EFRAG, the advisory body the Commission asked to develop them, has recently tabled a draft.

The analysis sets out which third-country entities fall within the scope of the non-EU ESRS, the timeline for their adoption and the first sustainability statements, how the climate change disclosure requirements relevant to the guarantees of origin (GO) market compare with the simplified ESRS, and what the standards mean for GO demand alongside the CSRD scope reduction and the treatment of location-based accounting.