The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are the detailed disclosure standards companies use to report under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Developed by EFRAG and adopted by the European Commission, they specify the environmental, social and governance datapoints companies must disclose, organized into cross-cutting standards and topical standards such as ESRS E1 on climate change.
Why It Matters for Manufacturers
ESRS is where CSRD becomes an operational data challenge.
The topical standards that demand the most from manufacturers — E1 on climate (including a full Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory), E2 on pollution, E3 on water and marine resources and E5 on resource use and the circular economy — all depend on site-level data that typically lives in disconnected plant systems, utility bills and supplier communications.
Which standards apply is not fixed. Each company’s double materiality assessment determines its reporting scope, so the quality of that assessment shapes the entire report.
The one near-certainty is E1: concluding climate isn’t material requires documented justification, so climate disclosure is effectively unavoidable.
U.S. and EU Applicability
ESRS applies to any company in CSRD scope, wherever it is headquartered. U.S. manufacturers encounter the standards through EU subsidiaries that report directly and through ESRS-aligned data requests from EU customers.
There is no U.S. equivalent. California’s climate laws reference the GHG Protocol rather than ESRS, which is why a Protocol-aligned emissions inventory can feed both regimes.
Current Status
Last updated: July 12, 2026
- Revised, simplified ESRS were adopted by the European Commission on July 3, 2026, and are now in a parliamentary scrutiny period. They apply to financial years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2027, with early adoption permitted for fiscal 2026 once the act enters into force.
- A “Quick Fix” delegated act gives first-wave companies relief from certain disclosures, including anticipated financial effects, for reports published in 2026 and 2027.