The European Union (Corporate Sustainability Reporting) Regulations 2024 (“CSRD”) were signed into law on 5th July 2024
The legislation makes various amendments to the Companies Act 2014 and introduces the requirement for certain companies to report on their climate, environmental, social, governance and sustainability matters and the risks they face and the impacts they have on climate and society.
The requirements must be reported in the directors’ report in its financial statements each year and the report must be in an electronic reporting format. The regulations also contain provisions regarding the auditing of the reports by the statutory auditors.
Companies in Scope and timeline for implementation
The directive mainly targets large companies and listed entities, however SME’s may have to provide sustainability information to companies in their value chain who are subject to the new regulations. This may have a significant impact on SME’s and lead to additional costs to comply with the regulations.
The recent increases in the size thresholds for companies may take some companies out of the reporting requirements. The regulations will apply for financial years commencing on or after:-
- 1 January 2024 for public interest entities in scope of EU non-financial reporting rules (greater than 500 employees)
- 1 January 2025 for other larger companies and public interest entities (greater than 250 employees)
- 1 January 2026 for listed SMEs, with an ‘opt out’ possible until 2028
- 1 January 2028 for Non-EU (Third Country) Undertakings generating an annual net turnover of €150 million in the EU
Information and Supports
The Department of Enterprise have published information on support and grants available to companies and have also developed a toolkit to allow businesses to see their environmental impact.
https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/what-we-do/the-business-environment/corporate-sustainability-reporting/
NB: The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other advice.
Share this on...