The ESRS standards: a practical overview of ESRS E1 to G1

The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are the mandatory disclosure standards issued under the CSRD. Twelve standards cover environmental, social and governance topics, applied through a double-materiality assessment.

Structure

Cross-cutting standards (apply to every company):

• ESRS 1 — General Requirements — reporting principles, materiality, boundaries.
• ESRS 2 — General Disclosures — governance, strategy, risk management, targets.

Topical standards (apply if material):

Environmental:

• E1 — Climate change — the most detailed and most frequently material.
• E2 — Pollution
• E3 — Water and marine resources
• E4 — Biodiversity and ecosystems
• E5 — Resource use and circular economy

Social:

• S1 — Own workforce
• S2 — Workers in the value chain
• S3 — Affected communities
• S4 — Consumers and end-users

Governance:

• G1 — Business conduct

Double materiality in practice

For each topic, companies assess:

• Impact materiality — does the company's activity materially affect people or the environment?
• Financial materiality — could the topic materially affect enterprise value?

A topic is material — and must be disclosed — if it is material on either axis. The assessment itself must be documented and disclosed under ESRS 2.

ESRS E1 — the climate standard

For most companies, E1 is the largest and most consequential standard. Required disclosures include:

• Transition plan for climate change mitigation.
• Physical and transition climate risks, and financial effects.
• Policies, actions and targets.
• GHG inventory across Scope 1, 2 and 3, with mandatory disaggregation.
• Energy consumption and mix.
• Internal carbon pricing, if used.
• Financial effects from material physical and transition risks.

E1 requires Scope 3 disclosure by category, market-based and location-based Scope 2, and disaggregation by GHG (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, HFCs, PFCs, SF₆, NF₃).

Assurance

Reports must be independently assured — starting with limited assurance and moving to reasonable assurance once the EU adopts standards for it. Assurance covers the double-materiality assessment as well as the disclosures.

Digital reporting

Reports are tagged in XBRL against the ESRS digital taxonomy, published as part of the ESAP (European Single Access Point) initiative.

Phase-in

• FY2024 — largest companies already under NFRD.
• FY2025 — other large EU companies.
• FY2026 — listed SMEs (with a two-year opt-out).
• FY2028 — non-EU parent groups with substantial EU activity.

The 2024 Omnibus package has proposed adjustments to scope and phase-in; monitor the Commission's implementing acts for the latest.

How Redigo Carbon supports ESRS E1

Redigo Carbon automates the GHG inventory required by ESRS E1 — Scope 1, 2 and 3, dual Scope 2 method, per-GHG disaggregation, transition plan modelling, and audit-ready evidence for assurance.

Related reading: CSRD explained and What is Sustainable Finance?.