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In the context of the letter received from Commissioner McGuinness in May 2021, EFRAG is happy to report on three key achievements to be completed by the end of April 2022:
The organisation of its Sustainability reporting pillar.
In compliance with its statutes and internal rules
as approved by the EFRAG General Assembly on 21 January, EFRAG has
taken the following key steps in the organisation of its Sustainability
reporting pillar:
The composition of the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board
has been announced on 10 March. It will hold its first meeting on 31
March, with two other meetings scheduled for 7 and 22 April. Jean-Paul
Gauzès, President of the EFRAG Board, will chair the EFRAG
Sustainability Reporting Board on an interim basis until the selection
process of the Chair is finalised. This selection falls under the
responsibility of the European Commission. These meetings are open to
the public.
The selection process of the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Technical Expert Group (TEG) is well under way after a call for candidates was closed
on 28 February. The EFRAG Sustainability Reporting TEG is expected to
be in place by mid-April and will immediately begin its activities.
Both bodies will operate under the Due Process Procedures which the EFRAG General Assembly approved on 15 March.
This
organisation mirrors the organisation of the Financial reporting pillar
and will therefore foster the connection between these two key
dimensions of corporate reporting.
The finalisation of a first set of exposure drafts.
Since June 2021 the Project Task Force on European Sustainability Reporting Standards (PTF-ESRS) has been working in project mode to elaborate exposure drafts. Since January 2022 the PTF has made publicly available preliminary Working Papers that reflect its initial thinking on the content of standards. Before June 2021, the PTF had completed its preparatory work and delivered its proposals to the European Commission.
The PTF-ESRS is currently finalising its proposed exposure drafts and organising the proper hand-over to EFRAG’s newly established Sustainability Reporting Board and Sustainability Reporting TEG during the month of April. These exposure drafts correspond to the first set of standards required under the CSRD proposal, and cover the full range of sustainability matters (environment, social and governance) under a robust architecture. The PTF -ESRS will hold its last plenary meeting on 25 April.
EFRAG wishes to take this opportunity to express its deep gratitude for the work performed during the past 20 months by the PTF and Secretariat members. Many participants will certainly continue to contribute to EFRAG’s activities in the future.
The launch of the public consultation on the exposure drafts.
EFRAG’s Due Process establishes public consultations as a key step of its standard setting activities.
EFRAG therefore wishes to announce that it will launch a public consultation on the first set of exposure drafts around the end of April. The consultation deadline will be 31 July.
In order to facilitate a fully informed participation in the public consultation EFRAG expects to organise May and June outreach events.
The analysis of the
feedback received will be performed in August and submitted to the EFRAG
Sustainability Reporting Board and EFRAG Sustainability Reporting TEG
in September. EFRAG will in parallel organise a cost benefit analysis of
the draft standards with similar deadlines.
Other consultations
on sustainability information will take place in parallel over a
similar period. EFRAG welcomes this as an opportunity to build on and
contribute to the current sustainability reporting momentum and to
foster co-construction, on climate related information in particular.