The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) will be used in all EU member states and are separate to the recently issued International Sustainability Standards, which are aligned with IFRS.

The EU standards will be introduced over a four-year period with the first sustainability reports due in 2025.

ESRS will be mandatory for use by companies that are required by the EU Accounting Directive to report certain sustainability information. Initially companies with more than 500 employees will have to report under the rules from financial year 2024 with the first report in 2025.