ESMA consults on proposals to digitalise sustainability and financial disclosures
Published 16 January 2025
Category: Impact and ESG
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a consultation paper seeking stakeholders’ view on how the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) can be applied to sustainability reporting for the purpose of easing the burden associated with financial reporting.
As EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, ESMA has it as a priority to ensure that investors can effectively access relevant and comparable information with the purpose of enabling them to enhance and accelerate their data-driven investment strategies.
Therefore, the consultation paper includes proposals for:
- Defining the marking up rules for sustainability reporting with a phased implementation for European Sustainability Reporting Standard (ESRS) sustainability statements in three steps, each lasting two years, and a full implementation for Article 8 disclosures under the Taxonomy Regulation.
- Redefining the marking up approach for the Notes to the International Account Standards, commonly referred to as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), consolidated financial statements.
- Amendments to the Regulatory Technical Standards on the European Electronic Access Point.
These proposals are of particular relevance to listed and non-listed undertakings and parent undertakings of large groups, auditors, investors, data analysts and other users of financial information impacted by the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF).
Next step
ESMA invites interested stakeholders to submit their feedback by 31 March 2025. ESMA will consider the feedback in Q2 2025 and publish a final report and submit the draft Technical Standards to the European Commission for endorsement in Q3 2025.
The consultation paper and relevant annexes can be accessed here.
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