朗读者：崔宸
河南城建学院
翻译
导读
随着ESG成为经济的核心理念，所需的运营机制正在形成。ESG已在许多不同行业流行，从科技公司到可持续金融公司、到生态时尚。然而，在环境可持续性的伪装下，许多企业继续扩大洗绿活动。强制性的义务报告是建立明数据与参考资料的第一步。
Investors, stakeholders, customers, and organisations have been discussing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues extensively. While some think that huge corporations are using ESG as another greenwashing strategy, others understand it is indeed a crucial step in the direction of sustainability. ESG can no longer be disregarded.
With ESG as a central tenet of the economy, the legislative mechanisms necessary to operate it are now taking shape. ESG reporting and disclosure used to be restricted to large organisations that met specific criteria, including public corporations or market-listed companies. All publicly traded companies within the European Union (EU) will now be required to disclose their sustainability reports as part of the new mandatory ESG reporting requirements.
Why Do We Need Mandatory Reporting?
ESG has become prevalent in many different industries, from tech companies and sustainable finance corporations, sustainable fashion. Yet, under the guise of environmental sustainability, many businesses have continued to expand greenwashing activities. For example, Lufthansa, one of the world’s largest airlines, has been outright greenwashing customers with ‘Green Fares’ offerings. Similarly, the food and beverage sector has seen false promises in the advertising of product sustainability. Starbucks' "Straw-Less Lid" is one example of the food industry's greenwashing.
Mandatory obligations to report audited details on resource use flows is the first step in establishing clear data to both with, and to use as reference when dealing with such sustainability claims.
What is Mandatory Reporting?
Due to the sudden rise in greenwashing incidents and bogus sustainability claims, the EU passed the world’s most far-reaching mandatory ESG reporting regime. The major goal of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which governs ESG reporting across a broad spectrum of public and private organisations, is to establish comprehensive, audited, public, and comparative reporting procedures.
The CSRD was adopted by the European Union Council on November 28, 2022, with the aim of increasing the frequency, consistency, and standardisation of corporate sustainability reporting. It will be applicable to both publicly traded and privately held businesses, and with this new EU regulation, businesses will be required to disclose their ESG reports, which will allow stakeholders and investors to assess non-financial performance of companies.
来源：
Rathor, A. (2023). The evolution of ESG: Mandatory reporting. KnowESG.
Available at： https://www.knowesg.com/featured-article/the-evolution-of-esg-mandatory-reporting
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