Further development of European sustainability reporting stand-ards for companies

Corporate reporting on sustainability issues is in transition. The standards and frameworks for reporting, most of which have been voluntary to date, are being developed at EU level to become more binding and standardized. The aim is to put sustainability information on an equal level with financial information in terms of quality and availability. This is to be achieved through the development of "European Sustainability Reporting Standards" (ESRS), which in future will be binding for companies subject to reporting requirements. In accordance with relevant existing and planned legal requirements such as the EU taxonomy the cross-industry and sector-specific reporting standards should cover all relevant sustainability topics.

The research project "Further development of European sustainability reporting standards for companies" aims to scientifically accompany the development process of EU sustainability reporting standards with a focus on environmental aspects. First, the project team systematically works out the main environmental impacts of the individual sectors and presents these in the form of fact sheets. The results are to be used in the ongoing process of standard development at EU level in order to ensure that all relevant environmental topics are included in future sector-specific standards. It is also analysed whether the cross-industry standards are compatible with corporate due diligence requirements in supply chains and selected environmental legislations. From the comparison, gaps and inconsistencies are to be identified in order to justify proposals for the further development of the ESRS. In addition to document analyses and interviews with experts, two deepened case studies with companies will be conducted. In order to be able to respond flexibly to the dynamic process in standard development, additional ad hoc workshops and brief analyses are also carried out during the course of the project.