ESRS: The European Sustainability Reporting Standards, All 12 Standards and What Each Requires

Two of the 12 standards are cross-cutting, ESRS 1 General requirements and ESRS 2 General disclosures, and ten are topical: five environmental standards (E1 to E5), four social standards (S1 to S4) and one governance standard (G1). The revised set enters into force on 10 November 2026 and keeps the same 12 standards, with 75 disclosure requirements instead of 82. The standards set the content of a report, not the duty to file one: that duty comes from the Directive, and the rules on who reports under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) decide which undertakings apply the standards.

The sections below give the list of standards with their disclosure requirement counts in both versions, the structure of a standard, the version for each financial year, the standards an undertaking must apply, the way the ESRS become law, the status of every standard-setting mandate as of 29 October 2026 and what EFRAG found in 905 published statements.

What Are the ESRS?

ESRS stands for European Sustainability Reporting Standards: the 12 standards in Annex I of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 that specify the sustainability information undertakings report under Articles 19a and 29a of Directive 2013/34/EU. Article 19a covers the sustainability reporting of an individual undertaking, and Article 29a covers the consolidated sustainability reporting of a parent undertaking for its group. The acronym names a family of standards, each with its own code from ESRS 1 to G1, not a single document.

The ESRS are a Commission delegated regulation adopted under Article 29b(1), first subparagraph, of Directive 2013/34/EU. Two versions of the same 12 standards exist: the "2023 set" of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 as amended by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1416, and the "2026 set" of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563, which replaces the content of Annex I instead of adding a second family of standards.

ESRS and CSRD: Which Act Sets the Duty and Which Sets the Content

The CSRD, Directive (EU) 2022/2464, decides who must report and where, and the ESRS decide what the report contains. The CSRD of 14 December 2022, in force since 5 January 2023, inserted Articles 19a and 29a into Directive 2013/34/EU, which place the sustainability information in the management report or the consolidated management report. As directives, the CSRD and Directive (EU) 2026/470 (Omnibus I) bind the Member States, and companies are bound by the national law that transposes them; Directive (EU) 2026/470 must be transposed by 19 March 2027. The ESRS are a delegated regulation and apply directly, without national transposition.

From financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027, an undertaking or group reports when it has more than 1,000 employees on average and a net turnover above EUR 450 million, both together (Articles 19a(1) and 29a(1) as replaced by Articles 2(4)(a) and 2(5)(a) of Directive (EU) 2026/470). Wave 1 reports for financial years 2024 to 2026 only, and how both values are counted is explained under CSRD thresholds after the Omnibus.

What the Directive Requires the Standards to Cover

Article 29b(2) of Directive 2013/34/EU lists the environmental, social and governance factors the standards must cover, and each factor has its standard. The eight groups of factors and the standards that cover them are listed below.

• Climate change mitigation and adaptation (point (a)(i) and (ii)), mitigation including scope 1, scope 2 and, where relevant, scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions: ESRS E1 Climate change.
• Water and marine resources (point (a)(iii)): ESRS E3 Water.
• Resource use and the circular economy (point (a)(iv)): ESRS E5 Resource use and circular economy.
• Pollution (point (a)(v)): ESRS E2 Pollution.
• Biodiversity and ecosystems (point (a)(vi)): ESRS E4 Biodiversity and ecosystems.
• Equal treatment and opportunities for all, working conditions and respect for human rights (point (b)(i) to (iii)): ESRS S1 to S4.
• Role and composition of the administrative, management and supervisory bodies, and internal control and risk management over sustainability reporting (point (c)(i) and (ii)): the governance disclosures of ESRS 2, in the 2026 set GOV-1 and GOV-4.
• Business ethics and corporate culture, political influence including lobbying, and relationships with customers, suppliers and communities including payment practices (point (c)(iii) to (v)): ESRS G1 Business conduct, in the 2026 set including G1-5 on political influence and G1-6 on payment practices.

The human-rights factor in point (b)(iii) refers to named instruments, among them the International Bill of Human Rights, the ILO Declaration and fundamental conventions, the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Directive (EU) 2026/470 replaced the first subparagraph of Article 29b(2): the standards "shall, to the extent possible, prioritise the disclosure of quantitative information".

All 12 Standards at a Glance

The ESRS consist of 12 standards in both versions: ESRS 1 General requirements and ESRS 2 General disclosures as cross-cutting standards, five environmental standards E1 to E5, four social standards S1 to S4 and one governance standard G1.

The table uses the 2026 titles from Annex I of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563; E3 is "Water" in the 2026 set and was "Water and marine resources" in the 2023 set. The last column counts the distinct disclosure requirement codes in the Official Journal text of each set, without the minimum or general disclosure requirements. The phase-in column follows the 2026 set ESRS 1 paragraphs 125 to 127: "whole standard" means that wave-one undertakings above both values may omit it for financial years before 2027 and other undertakings in their first two financial years.

Totals: 82 disclosure requirements in the 2023 set and 75 in the 2026 set. Wave-one undertakings not exceeding EUR 450 million net turnover or an average of 1,000 employees may omit all topical standards for financial years before 2027 (2026 set ESRS 1 paragraph 126, which reads "or" in the Official Journal).

How Each Standard Is Organised

Each topical standard is a set of disclosure requirements, each disclosure requirement consists of one or more datapoints, and the cross-cutting standards add the rules and general disclosures that apply to every statement. A disclosure requirement carries a code made of the standard and a number: gross Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions are E1-8 in the 2026 set and E1-6 in the 2023 set. Codes and paragraph numbers changed throughout the revision, so every reference to a code names its set.

Cross-Cutting and Topical Standards

The 2023 set sorts the standards into three categories, cross-cutting, topical and sector-specific (ESRS 1 paragraph 4), and the 2026 set keeps only two, cross-cutting (ESRS 1 and ESRS 2) and topical (ESRS 1 paragraphs 8 to 10). ESRS 1 sets no disclosure requirements of its own. It holds the rules on materiality, the value chain, time horizons, the preparation and presentation of the statement, reliefs and transitional provisions. Its time horizons, for example, are the same in both sets: the short term is the reporting period of the financial statements, the medium term up to five years and the long term more than five years (2023 set ESRS 1 paragraph 77, 2026 set paragraph 79).

ESRS 2 holds the general disclosures, grouped as basis for preparation (BP), governance (GOV), strategy (SBM) and impact, risk and opportunity management (IRO). The 2023 set has GOV-1 to GOV-5, the 2026 set GOV-1 to GOV-4. ESRS 2 also sets the content rules for policies, actions, metrics and targets that every topical standard uses: the minimum disclosure requirements MDR-P, MDR-A, MDR-M and MDR-T in the 2023 set (ESRS 2 paragraphs 60 to 81), renamed general disclosure requirements GDR-P, GDR-A, GDR-M and GDR-T in the 2026 set (ESRS 2 paragraphs 38 to 52).

Reporting Areas and Disclosure Requirements

The 2023 set organises disclosures into four reporting areas, governance (GOV), strategy (SBM), impact, risk and opportunity management (IRO) and metrics and targets (MT) (ESRS 1 paragraph 12). Across the 12 standards, the 2023 set has 82 disclosure requirements and the 2026 set 75, counted as distinct codes with the minimum and general disclosure requirements excluded; ESRS 2 has 12 and 11. E1 grows from 9 to 11 because climate risks and scenario analysis (E1-2) and resilience (E1-3) become separate disclosure requirements in the 2026 set. S2, S3 and S4 each fall from 5 to 4 because engagement and remediation channels are merged into one disclosure requirement.

A datapoint is a distinct item of information within a disclosure requirement: "Each DR consists of one or more distinct datapoints" (2026 set ESRS 1 paragraph 17), and "shall" marks information that is prescribed, subject to materiality. EFRAG counts 783 "shall" datapoints in the 2023 set and 292 in the 2026 set (195 net of conditional datapoints), according to EFRAG's draft list of datapoints, which is non-authoritative and must not be used as a checklist. Every material disclosure requirement, in either version, is reported in the sustainability statement that carries the disclosure requirements.

Two Versions of the Same 12 Standards

Two versions of the ESRS exist on 29 October 2026: the 2023 set of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 as amended by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1416, used for financial years 2024 to 2026, and the 2026 set of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563, mandatory for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027. The official texts are on EUR-Lex: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1416 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563. The table shows the version for each financial year by its start date.

Which undertakings must use the ESRS in a given year follows from the national law transposing the CSRD.

Financial Years 2024 to 2026: The First Set as Amended

The first set was adopted on 31 July 2023 as Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772, published in the Official Journal on 22 December 2023, in force since 25 December 2023 and applicable to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2024 (Article 2). Its Annex I holds the 12 standards, and Annex II holds the acronyms and the glossary. Wave 1, large public-interest entities with more than 500 employees, applies it from financial year 2024 where national law transposes the CSRD.

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1416 of 11 July 2025, the quick fix, was published on 10 November 2025, has been in force since 13 November 2025 and applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025. It replaced the phase-in list of ESRS 1 Appendix C and the opening wording of ESRS 2 paragraph 17, and its recital 4 states that wave-one undertakings are not required to report additional information for financial years 2025 and 2026 compared with financial year 2024. Under Appendix C as replaced, wave-one undertakings with not more than 750 employees may omit Scope 3 and total greenhouse gas emissions (E1-6) and all of S1 for their first three years; the 750-employee test belongs to the 2023 set only.

From Financial Year 2027: The Revised Set, Optional for 2026

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563 of 3 July 2026, published in the Official Journal on 21 September 2026, enters into force on 10 November 2026 and applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027 (Article 3). These are the revised (simplified) ESRS, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563, and they hold the same 12 standards with new codes and paragraph numbers.

Article 1 replaces Annexes I and II of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 and does not repeal that act. The revision followed recital 18 of Directive (EU) 2026/470, which asked for a delegated act revising the ESRS within six months of its entry into force, with aims that include removing the least important datapoints, prioritising quantitative information and giving clear materiality instructions.

For financial year 2026, Article 2(1) lets an undertaking use the 2023 set as last amended by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1416, the 2026 set, or the 2023 set with eight reliefs of the 2026 ESRS 1, and Article 2(2) requires the statement to state which version is applied. According to the Commission (3 July 2026), the revised ESRS reduce mandatory datapoints by over 60 % and total datapoints by over 70 %, and are expected to cut reporting costs by more than 30 % per company.

Which Standards an Undertaking Must Apply

An undertaking applies ESRS 1 to its whole statement, reports the general disclosures of ESRS 2 under the rule of its version, and reports a topical standard only where its materiality assessment finds the topic material. No undertaking reports all 12 standards by default: the materiality assessment selects the topical standards, and two special cases govern ESRS 2 and E1.

Some disclosures, or whole standards, may be left out in the first years. Under the 2026 set, wave-one undertakings above both values may omit E4, S2, S3 and S4 for financial years before 2027 (ESRS 1 paragraph 125), and other undertakings may omit them in their first two financial years (paragraph 127). An undertaking that omits a whole standard still states in BP-2 whether the topic is material and, if so, gives summary information (2026 set ESRS 2 paragraphs 7 to 10).

Materiality Decides Which Topical Standards Apply

A sustainability matter is material when it meets the impact materiality criteria, the financial materiality criteria or both (2023 ESRS 1 paragraph 28). The severity of a negative impact rests on its scale, scope and irremediable character (2023 set ESRS 1 paragraph 45, 2026 set paragraph 40). The 2026 set adds a rule the 2023 set does not contain: the undertaking "shall not" disclose information prescribed by a disclosure requirement or datapoint if that information is not material, apart from supplementary information (2026 set ESRS 1 paragraph 24).

The assessment that produces this result is a method of its own, run on impacts, risks and opportunities across the undertaking's operations and value chain. Neither version requires or mentions a materiality matrix. The steps of the double materiality assessment, from the list of topics to the material impacts, risks and opportunities, are set out under double materiality assessment under the ESRS.

General Disclosures and Climate: Two Special Cases

In the 2023 set, ESRS 2 is disclosed irrespective of the outcome of the materiality assessment, together with the topical IRO-1 disclosures listed in its Appendix C (ESRS 1 paragraph 29). The 2026 set has no such clause and describes the ESRS 2 disclosure requirements as "fundamental in nature and therefore likely to result in material information for all undertakings" (2026 ESRS 1 AR 12).

Climate change has its own rule in both versions. If climate change is not material, the 2023 set requires a detailed explanation that includes a forward-looking analysis of conditions that could make it material in future (ESRS 1 paragraph 32). The 2026 set requires "the basis for concluding that climate change is not material, if the undertaking has reached this conclusion and therefore omits all DRs in ESRS E1 Climate Change" (ESRS 2 paragraph 37(b), IRO-2, of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563).

How the ESRS Become Law

The ESRS become law as Commission delegated regulations under Article 29b(1) of Directive 2013/34/EU, binding in their entirety and directly applicable in every Member State without national transposition. Article 29b(1) also provides that the reporting requirements of such a delegated act do not enter into force earlier than four months after its adoption.

The Commission takes EFRAG's technical advice into consideration, provided it is developed with proper due process, public oversight and transparency, accompanied by cost-benefit analyses, and participation is based on expertise, not on a financial contribution (Article 49(3b) of Directive 2013/34/EU). EFRAG is a private association under Belgian law (IVZW/AISBL) and the "appointed technical adviser to the European Commission developing draft ESRS": its Sustainability Reporting Board approves the draft standards, and its Sustainability Reporting Technical Expert Group advises the board. The Commission, not EFRAG, adopts the standards.

The European Parliament and the Council may object to a delegated act within two months of notification, a period that can be extended by two months (Article 49(5) of Directive 2013/34/EU as replaced by Article 2(14)(e) of Directive (EU) 2026/470). The text of the empowerment can be read in the consolidated CSRD law after the Omnibus.

Standards Adopted, Deleted and Not Yet Adopted on 2026-10-29

As of 29 October 2026, the 12 ESRS are adopted in both versions, the sector-specific ESRS and the standards for listed SMEs have been deleted from the Directive, the standards for non-EU groups carry a deadline of 30 June 2026 in the Directive, and a voluntary standard for smaller undertakings has its own delegated regulation.

The empowerment for sector-specific standards, the third, fourth and sixth subparagraphs of Article 29b(1), was deleted by Article 2(6)(a) of Directive (EU) 2026/470, in force since 18 March 2026; under Directive (EU) 2024/1306 those standards had been due by 30 June 2026. Article 2(7) deleted Article 29c on standards for listed SMEs. For the standards for non-EU groups, Article 40b sets a deadline of 30 June 2026 (as amended by Directive (EU) 2024/1306), and EFRAG has published an exposure draft for them. Article 29ca, inserted by Article 2(8), empowers the Commission to adopt voluntary standards. The table lists every mandate with its provision.

What the First Statements under the ESRS Show

EFRAG's State of Play 2026 report analysed 905 assured sustainability statements for financial year 2025, published between 1 January and 20 April 2026. The statements disclose an average of 6.4 material ESRS topics and 30 impacts, risks and opportunities, and E1 and S1 are material in 99 % of them and G1 in 95 %. FY 2025 statements were prepared under the 2023 set (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772, as amended by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1416), because the 2026 set is only available from financial years starting in 2026 (Article 2(1) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563).

The State of Play 2026 also measures length and practice. The average statement fell from 115 to 95 pages and makes up about 34 % of the annual report. Disclosure of climate transition plans rose from 55 % to 69 %, 82 % of the undertakings updated their double materiality assessment compared with financial year 2024, and 67 % used a hybrid top-down and bottom-up approach. Measurable targets cover 3.3 topics on average, against 6.4 material topics.

The figures describe the 905 statements only: they show climate, own workforce and business conduct as material topics in nearly every statement of the sample. For an undertaking preparing the first statements under the 2026 set, the steps are laid out as a CSRD compliance plan after the Omnibus.

The ESRS Framework in Depth

Beyond the 12 standards, the framework pages cover the revised set, the datapoint lists, the general rules for policies, actions, metrics and targets, the transitional reliefs, the delegated acts, the deleted sector standards and EFRAG. Each row gives the question a page answers and one key value.

What the ESRS Are Not

The ESRS are not a law on who must report, not a voluntary SME framework and not a global standard: they are the EU content standards for undertakings in CSRD scope. The three questions below mark where the ESRS end and other instruments begin.

Have the ESRS Been Replaced?

No: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563 replaced the content of Annex I of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 with a revised set of the same 12 standards, without repealing the 2023 act. The ESRS remain the standards; only their version changes with the financial year.

EFRAG's implementation guidance IG 1 (materiality assessment), IG 2 (value chain) and IG 3 (datapoints) was written for the 2023 set, and "EFRAG has not updated the IGs to reflect the Revised ESRS". The ESRS Q&A Platform has been on hold since the end of 2025.

Do Smaller Companies Use the ESRS?

Undertakings below the CSRD values do not report under the ESRS; they may use the voluntary standard (VS, formerly VSME), Annex I of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560. The VS is a separate standard for smaller undertakings, and it is explained as the voluntary standard for smaller companies.

The ESRS still reach smaller companies through the value chain. Under the 2026 set, the information an in-scope undertaking may require from value-chain undertakings with up to 1,000 employees "only comprises the datapoints specified in Annex II to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560" (ESRS 1 paragraph 66).

Is ESRS Reporting the Same as Reporting under Global Frameworks?

No: the ESRS are EU standards adopted under Directive 2013/34/EU, while the ISSB Standards and the GRI Standards are separate frameworks with documented overlaps. The ESRS-ISSB interoperability guidance of 2 May 2024 (IFRS Foundation and EFRAG), written for the 2023 set, states that "almost all the disclosures in ISSB Standards related to climate are included in ESRS".

Under the EFRAG-GRI joint statement, an undertaking reporting under the ESRS is considered to report "with reference to" the GRI Standards. The overlaps and differences are set out in the ESRS compared with other sustainability reporting frameworks.