§1.1 Sustainability information to be reported at individual level under Article 19a Accounting Directive (sustainability statement)

Based on Article 19a Accounting Directive, undertakings governed by the law of a Member State that are: — large undertakings (21); or — SMEs (22), excluding micro-undertakings (23), with transferable securities (24) admitted to trading on an EU regulated market; must report sustainability information at individual level (individual sustainability statement) concerning the undertaking’s impacts on sustainability matters, and concerning how sustainability matters affect the undertaking’s development, performance and position. The individual sustainability statement must comply with the following requirements: (i) it must be included in a dedicated section of the undertaking’s management report; (ii) it must be prepared in accordance with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) adopted by way of Commission delegated acts (25). SMEs (excluding micro-undertakings) with transferable securities admitted to trading on an EU regulated market may alternatively prepare their individual sustainability statement in accordance with a dedicated set of proportionate ESRS (26) adopted by way of Commission delegated acts (LSME ESRS) (27); (iii) it must be marked-up in accordance with a digital taxonomy (28) adopted by way of an amendment to Commission Delegated Regulation on the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) (29), and the management report that includes the sustainability statement shall be prepared in the XHTML format (30); (iv) it must be subject to assurance (31), to be carried out by statutory auditors, or Independent Assurance Services Providers ‘IASPs’ where allowed by a Member State, based on limited assurance standards (32); (v) the management report that includes the sustainability statement shall be published in accordance with the existing publication rules for the management report (33), together with the assurance opinion on the sustainability statement (34). These requirements must be complied with based on the following phased approach (35): — for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2024 (i.e. with publication in 2025): large undertakings which are public-interest entities (36) exceeding on their balance sheet dates the average number of 500 employees during the financial year; — for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025 (i.e. with publication in 2026): the other large undertakings (i.e. large undertakings which are not ‘ public-interest entities exceeding on their balance sheet dates the average number of 500 employees during the financial year ’); — for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2026 (i.e. with publication in 2027): — SMEs (excluding micro-undertakings) with transferable securities admitted to trading on an EU regulated market; — small and non-complex institutions (37) provided they are either large undertakings or SMEs (excluding micro-undertakings) with transferable securities admitted to trading on an EU regulated market; — captive insurance undertakings (38) and captive reinsurance undertakings (39) provided that they are either large undertakings or SMEs (excluding micro-undertakings) with transferable securities admitted to trading on an EU regulated market. SMEs (excluding micro-undertakings) with transferable securities admitted to trading on an EU regulated market may opt-out from these requirements until financial years beginning before 1 January 2028, provided that they briefly state in their management report why the sustainability reporting was not provided (40). The undertaking is exempted from the obligation to publish an individual sustainability statement where the information is included in the consolidated sustainability statement of a parent undertaking, provided that certain conditions are met as regards the content of the exempted undertaking’s management report and the publication of the sustainability information by the parent undertaking (41). Large undertakings with securities admitted to trading on an EU regulated market – including small and non-complex institutions, captive insurance undertakings and captive reinsurance undertakings and including third-country undertakings – cannot avail of this exemption (42).

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07