ESG Work Programme: a focus on European sustainability reporting objectives in 2024

On 11 October 2023, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) published the “EFRAG Sustainability reporting Work programme for 2024”. The Work Programme offers an insight on what EFRAG plans to publish in 2024. Specifically, the focus for the year revolves around offering implementation support for companies subject to Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 and publishing standards for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The draft ESRS for listed SMEs and voluntary reporting standards for non-listed SMEs are planned to be published in early 2024, each undergoing a four-month public consultation period.
On 17 October 2023, the European Commission, as outlined in its work programme 2024, announced that it intends to postpone the adoption of sector-specific European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) as well as ESRS for large non-EU companies that operate in the EU by 2 years. Thus, EFRAG will adjust the consultation periods for the exposure drafts of the mentioned ESRS based on the revised deadlines by the European Commission.

To achieve the abovementioned objectives, EFRAG launched in October 2023 the EFRAG ESRS Q&A Platform. The platform offers non-authoritative guidance on the technical implementation questions related to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). Companies can submit their inquiries through the electronic form available on EFRAG’s website.