ESG: Udvikling i rapporteringskrav og implementering i praksis

Abstract

Due to the publicity in the Danish media on the upcoming requirements for companies’ ESG-reporting caused by the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) by the European Commission, the purpose of this report is to examine how Danish companies in accounting class C large prepare themselves for these requirements. As the upcoming requirements are more extensive than the current requirements for ESG-reporting, the companies in Danish accounting class C large are reported to find themselves unprepared and overwhelmed. This report investigates the challenges the companies face in order to be compliant with the upcoming requirements and how they plan to overcome the challenges that arise.
The findings presented in this report are based on a case study performed by analysing qualitative and quantitative data obtained from interviews with representatives from relevant companies, auditors and consultants, and accounting experts, as well as a questionnaire from companies in the Danish account-ing class C large. The report is divided into three parts, where the first part explains the current re-quirements to ESG-reporting and how they differ from the upcoming requirements in CSRD, the sec-ond part analyses how the companies in the Danish account class C large have prepared themselves to comply with the upcoming ESG-reporting requirements, and the third part assesses what impact an auditor’s report with limited assurance on the ESG-reporting will have for the users of the ESG-re-ports.
Based on the obtained data it has been possible to conclude that the companies in Danish account class C large are not currently adequately prepared for the upcoming requirements for ESG-reporting in compliance with CSRD, as the requirements are more extensive than the current requirements. The main challenges for the companies are to identify what to report on and how to obtain sufficient data for the reporting. As there is not currently a requirement for an auditor’s report on ESG-reporting, the users of the ESG-report can put more trust in the upcoming reports that comply with the requirements in CSRD since these will be reviewed by an auditor.
As the companies in the Danish accounting class C large are not currently prepared for the upcoming requirements for ESG-reporting in compliance with CSRD, this report seeks to shed light on the areas where the companies have prepared themselves insufficiently and what the primary challenges have been as well as what impact the upcoming rules in CSRD will have on ESG-reporting.