CSRD, ESRS, VSME: EU sustainability reporting
From 2024, companies in the EU will be required to report on their sustainability performance. This has a significant impact on many companies, including those that do not directly fall under it. What does the CSRD entail, who is subject to it, and how can you deal with it?
What is the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)?
The CSRD is a European directive for sustainability reporting. It requires certain companies to report on their sustainability performance using a set of sustainability criteria.
The CSRD covers three areas: Environment, Social and Governance, also known as ESG. The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) set out exactly what you need to report on in these areas so that every company does it in the same way. These include, for example, gross scopes 1, 2, 3 and total GHG emissions, female/male ratio in senior management, human resources policies, or information on how you manage your relationships with your suppliers and the impact on your supply chain.
FAQs
Read the FAQs on the CSRD about the scope, the standards (ESRS), practical implementation and enforcement, the relationship with existing EU legislation, timelines, tips & tricks to get started and much more.
Webinars
Watch these webinars on the CSRD, with English subtitles, with plenty of practical examples:
Webinar 'European Commission makes changes to the CSRD, CSDDD, EU Taxonomy and CBAM' (March 7, 2025)
Webinar ‘CSRD and ESRS: Ready to Go? A Checklist’ - (3 December 2024)
Webinar ‘CSRD and ESRS: Reliable Data’ (19 November 2024)
Webinar on the supply chain (10 October 2023)
Webinar on double materiality (3 October 2023)
Webinar on the definitive standards (26 September 2023)
European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS)
The detailed description of the environment, social and governance topics can be found in the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). The related data points can be found here.
Following an extensive due diligence process, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) drafted 12 standards in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. Environmental standards cover, for example, carbon emissions and water use. Social standards cover, for example, the company's own workforce, but also any affected communities. In addition, anti-corruption policies and animal welfare fall under governance standards. Cross-cutting standards set out the guiding principles and ground rules for the reporting. They also deal with the governance structure of a company, such as the role of the board and gender ratios.
Disclaimer: In the Omnibus proposal, the European Commission has proposed to simplify the reporting standards and requested EFRAG to provide technical advice. In December 2025, EFRAG published revised ESRS. These standards have not yet been adopted by the European Commission through a delegated act. This answer therefore relates to the current ESRS and not to the revised ESRS developed by EFRAG. Please see 'Amendments to the CSRD through the Omnibus proposals' for more information on the Omnibus proposals.
Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for non-listed SMEs (VSME)
The VSME is a voluntary sustainability reporting standard recommended by the European Commission.
Undertakings that do not fall within the scope of the CSRD but wish to prepare a sustainability report on a voluntary basis can use the VSME standard. In addition, these undertakings may receive data requests from value chain partners that are subject to reporting obligations. The VSME sets a limit on what CSRD-obliged undertakings may request from non-reporting undertakings within their value chain. This is referred to as the ‘value chain cap’.
The final version of the VSME was submitted by EFRAG to the European Commission in December 2024. On 30 July 2025, the European Commission published a formal recommendation (Recommendation EU 2025/1710), recommending the use of the VSME for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As part of the Omnibus proposals, the European Commission has announced that the VSME may be further revised. At present, the recommendation for all undertakings outside the scope of the CSRD is to use the current VSME.
CSRD Sustainability Reporting and IRBC
The CSRD requires companies to report on sustainability in their own organisations and in their supply chains. Many business value chains are international, and that is where the greatest impacts on human rights, working conditions and the environment often occur. This is why reporting on International Responsible Business Conduct (IRBC) is an important part of the legislation. The CSRD also explicitly states that companies should use the UN Guiding Principles and the OECD Guidelines in their materiality analysis, which also provides a framework to get off to a good start.
A company builds its future by making its vision of sustainability and its ambitions for the short, medium and long term transparent and achievable. The SER supports this by bringing companies, trade unions, NGOs and government together to share knowledge and implement projects, for example through the IRBC agreements. Read more about the SER and IRBC.
More information
Do you have any questions about the CSRD or the ESRS? Please contact Noortje Crabbendam or Susan Smid at SecretariaatIMVO@ser.nl.