To effectively allocate resources and assign the correct internal stakeholders, you must understand the exact architecture of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The legislation categorizes its requirements using the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
The ESRS utilizes a highly rigid taxonomy broken down into Cross-Cutting standards, Environmental standards, Social standards, and Governance standards. Below is a comprehensive breakdown of the taxonomy down to the exact Disclosure Requirement (DR) level.
Important Note: Following the Double Materiality rules, only the Cross-Cutting standards (ESRS 2) are universally mandatory. You are only required to report on the specific Environmental, Social, and Governance DRs if your materiality assessment proves them to be relevant to your business.
The Cross-Cutting Standards (General Disclosures)
These standards dictate how you report and require overarching information about your corporate strategy, governance, and materiality assessment.
ESRS 2: General Disclosures-BP-1 & BP-2: Basis of preparation and disclosures in specific circumstances.
GOV-1 to GOV-5: Governance. Requires detailing the role of administrative bodies, integration of sustainability performance in incentive schemes, and risk management systems.
SBM-1 to SBM-3: Strategy and Business Model. Requires detailing market position, value chain mapping, and how material impacts, risks, and opportunities interact with your strategy.
IRO-1 & IRO-2: Impacts, Risks, and Opportunities. Requires a full explanation of the processes used to identify your material topics (your Double Materiality Assessment methodology).
MDR: Minimum Disclosure Requirements. Defines the standardized structure you must use anytime you report a Policy, Action, or Target in the topical standards below.
The Environmental Standards (E1 to E5)
These standards require heavy involvement from your facilities, operations, and HSE (Health, Safety, and Environment) departments.
ESRS E1: Climate Change-E1-1: Transition plan for climate change mitigation.
E1-2 to E1-4: Policies, actions, resources, and specific targets related to climate change.
E1-5: Energy consumption and mix (fossil fuels vs. renewables).
E1-6: Gross Scopes 1, 2, 3 and Total GHG emissions.
E1-7: GHG removals and GHG mitigation projects (carbon credits).
E1-8: Internal carbon pricing mechanisms.
E1-9: Anticipated financial effects from material physical and transition climate risks.ESRS E2: Pollution-E2-1 to E2-3: Policies, actions, and targets related to pollution.
E2-4: Pollution of air, water, and soil (specific emissions to these mediums).
E2-5: Substances of concern and substances of very high concern.
E2-6: Anticipated financial effects from pollution-related risks.ESRS E3: Water and Marine Resources-E3-1 to E3-3: Policies, actions, and targets for water and marine resources.
E3-4: Water consumption metrics (withdrawals and discharges, especially in water-stressed areas).
E3-5: Anticipated financial effects from water-related impacts.ESRS E4: Biodiversity and Ecosystems-E4-1: Transition plan and consideration of biodiversity in strategy.
E4-2 to E4-4: Policies, actions, and targets related to biodiversity.
E4-5: Impact metrics related to biodiversity and ecosystems change.
E4-6: Anticipated financial effects from biodiversity risks.ESRS E5: Resource Use and Circular Economy-E5-1 to E5-3: Policies, actions, and targets for circular economy.
E5-4: Resource inflows (materials used in your processes).
E5-5: Resource outflows (products, packaging, and waste generation).
E5-6: Anticipated financial effects from resource use.
The Social Standards (S1 to S4)
These standards require direct engagement from Human Resources, Legal, Procurement, and Customer Success teams.
ESRS S1: Own Workforce-S1-1 to S1-5: Policies, engagement processes, remediation channels, actions, and targets regarding your direct employees.
S1-6 & S1-7: Characteristics of employees and non-employees (headcounts, contract types).
S1-8: Collective bargaining coverage and social dialogue.
S1-9: Diversity metrics (gender distribution at top management).
S1-10 & S1-11: Adequate wages and social protection coverage.
S1-12: Persons with disabilities.
S1-13: Training and skills development metrics.
S1-14: Health and safety metrics (accidents, fatalities).
S1-15: Work-life balance indicators.
S1-16: Remuneration metrics (gender pay gap and total remuneration ratio).
S1-17: Incidents, complaints, and severe human rights impacts.**ESRS S2 (Workers in the Value Chain), S3 (Affected Communities), & S4 (Consumers and End-Users) **
These three standards share an identical, five-part disclosure structure focused on the people impacted by your operations outside your direct payroll.SX-1: Policies related to the specific group.
SX-2: Processes for engaging with the specific group about impacts.
SX-3: Processes to remediate negative impacts and channels for them to raise concerns.
SX-4: Taking action on material impacts and effectiveness of those actions.
SX-5: Targets related to managing material negative impacts or advancing positive impacts.
The Governance Standard (G1)
This standard mandates transparency regarding corporate ethics, requiring input from your Legal, Finance, and Procurement executives.
ESRS G1: Business Conduct-G1-1: Corporate culture and business conduct policies.
G1-2: Management of relationships with suppliers (supplier codes of conduct, payment terms).
G1-3: Procedures to prevent and detect corruption and bribery.
G1-4: Confirmed incidents of corruption or bribery.
G1-5: Political influence and lobbying activities.
G1-6: Payment practices (specifically addressing late payments to SME suppliers).
Navigate the ESRS Taxonomy in the Platform
Instead of memorizing this dense regulatory list, you can seamlessly explore this exact tree structure directly within your workspace to assign tasks and filter your views.
Navigate to the ESG Data menu in the main left-hand sidebar.
Click on the Data Collection tab.
Locate the Frameworks drop-down menu in the top filter bar.
Expand the CSRD tag by clicking the small arrow icon next to it.
Click through the nested arrows to drill down from Topics (e.g., Environment), to Sub-Topics (e.g., E1 Climate Change), down to the specific Disclosure Requirements (e.g., E1-6 GHG Emissions).
Check the box next to any level of the taxonomy to instantly filter your main data table.