The AMF supports issuers in implementing new sustainability reporting obligations

A new regulatory framework for corporate sustainability reporting

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will come into application gradually from 1 January 2024. It will significantly strengthen sustainability reporting requirements for companies, which will have to publish detailed information concerning their risks and opportunities related to social, environmental and governance issues and concerning the impacts of their activities on the environment and society.

This sustainability information will be presented in the management report of companies, in accordance with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) which will be adopted by the European Commission in the form of delegated acts. The draft delegated act containing the 12 draft ESRS was submitted for public consultation by the European Commission on 9 June 2023, for a period of four weeks.

Getting ready for the new obligations

This new regulatory framework is essential to achieve the European Union's sustainability objectives and to meet the needs of investors and of all stakeholders for information that is more relevant, more comparable and more reliable. It is important that all actors get mobilised to ensure its satisfactory application.

The implementation of this regulation nevertheless represents a major challenge for companies. Substantial human and financial efforts will have to be made by companies to comply with the new, dense and complex regulatory requirements within a very tight schedule, as the first companies concerned (application is gradual, according to their size) will have to apply this new framework as soon as the 1st of January 2024 (2024 reporting period).

The ESRS standards will be definitive only at the end of the non-objection period by the co-legislators on the delegated act. The non-objection period will start as soon as the Commission adopts the delegated act following the current consultation. It is nonetheless very much in companies' interest to start, or else accelerate, the work of implementation of the regulations based on the directive and the ESRS draft standards.

The AMF supports companies

In its ongoing commitment to sustainable finance, and in line with its approach to support market participants, the AMF proposes on its website a few steps that listed companies could consider for the preparation and correct implementation of the CSRD and ESRS (see: CSRD sustainability reporting). 

The AMF also invites stakeholders to reply to the European Commission's public consultation on the draft delegated act presenting the European sustainability standards (ESRS). This consultation is open until 7 July 2023 and can be accessed here.