CSRD: state of play before the final EU negotiations

As the three EU institutions kicked off the trilogues on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Accountancy Europe and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) brought together speakers representing the European Commission, investors, business, the accountancy profession and civil society to discuss the latest CSRD developments.

Our speakers

• Elena Arveras, Policy Officer, Corporate Reporting, Audit and CRAS unit, DG FISMA, European Commission 
• Stanislas Pottier, Senior Advisor to the General Management, Amundi 
• Olivier Boutellis-Taft, Chief Executive Officer, Accountancy Europe 
• Rami Feghali, Vice Chair Sustainability Policy Group, Accountancy Europe 
• Filip Gregor, Head of Responsible Companies, Frank Bold
• Anne-Hélène Monsellato, Independent Director, EcoDa and the Audit and Risk Committee Chair, Euronav and Genfit 

Ask your questions on Slido with the code #CSRD

Recap

Highlights of the panel discussion

Erik Van Der Plaats (DG FISMA European Commission) shared his insights on the ongoing CSRD legislative debate. He noted that the European Parliament (EP) and the Council stressed the importance of the CSRD in the Green Deal and climate change context. Both institutions are keen to achieve a political agreement rapidly. He highlighted the below points as important for the final negotiations:

• SMEs’ involvement and potential administrative burden from sustainability reporting requirements
• CSRD’s scope and whether the requirements should apply to non-EU companies
• assurance (audit) regime and potential separation between the statutory audit and assurance

#CSRD webinar with @ACCANews: @Europarl_EN & @EUCouncil want to reach agreement by end June. Avoiding administrative burden for #SMEs, scope & audit regime are the topics of attention so far – Erik Van Der Plaats from @EU_Finance Follow the discussion now: https://t.co/saefvzPXrn

— Accountancy Europe (@AccountancyEU) March 30, 2022

Scope

We discussed the impacts on SME inclusion in the CSRD scope, defining criteria, reporting requirements, transitional stage and what excluding SMEs would mean with regards to access to green investments. Panellists pointed out the importance to acknowledge SMEs as a part of the green transition landscape and provide them with financial and human support. Including SMEs in the reporting regime will clarify the rules or standards companies need to follow and what they are expected to report. We also debated other proposed changes to the CSRD initial scope such as inclusion of non-EU companies.

Expected reporting timeline

Panellists agreed that the expected reporting timeline should be ambitious, but companies should also be given a grace period due to the challenges in collecting reliable data. The current timeline is characterised with two conflicting priorities: being ambitious enough and companies providing credible information in that timeline. We also explored a progressive implementation as a way forward. The debate also revolved around the need for standardised data and for the EU standards to be ready promptly.

#CSRD “Investors urge to go fast and simple. Reporting could first focus on #climate, #CO2, carbon budgets & emissions if we want to be #CarbonNeutral by 2050. To do the right investments investors need the right information” @StanPottier @Amundi_FR pic.twitter.com/7akqaRQSrF

— Accountancy Europe (@AccountancyEU) March 30, 2022

Assurance (audit)

Panellists noted that assurance is key to ensure credible information will flow into the value chain, to the financial institutions and investors. We also exchanged on the connectivity between financial and sustainability information, and the proposed potential split between sustainability assurance and financial audit. Limited assurance and the company being able to choose their financial auditor for sustainability assurance were also debated.

” We need good reporting standards for assurance. There is also a lot of sustainability expertise in the specialised firms and audit firms, but not equally distributed, collaboration is necessary ” @Gregor_Filip @purposeofcorp #CSRD #sustainabilityreporting

— Accountancy Europe (@AccountancyEU) March 30, 2022

Mr. Van Der Plaats clarified that he is representing his own views on the file.