Article 19a Sustainability reporting

►M8  Undertakings which, on their balance sheet dates, exceed a net turnover of EUR 450 000 000 and an average number of 1 000 employees during the financial year shall include in their management report information necessary to understand the undertaking’s impacts on sustainability matters, and information necessary to understand how sustainability matters affect the undertaking’s development, performance and position. ◄

The information referred to in the first subparagraph shall be clearly identifiable within the management report, through a dedicated section of the management report.

The information referred to in paragraph 1 shall contain:

a brief description of the undertaking’s business model and strategy, including:

the resilience of the undertaking’s business model and strategy in relation to risks related to sustainability matters;

the opportunities for the undertaking related to sustainability matters;

the plans of the undertaking, including implementing actions and related financial and investment plans, to ensure that its business model and strategy are compatible with the transition to a sustainable economy and with the limiting of global warming to 1,5 °C in line with the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted on 12 December 2015 (the ‘Paris Agreement’) and the objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 as established in Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 12 ), and, where relevant, the exposure of the undertaking to coal-, oil- and gas-related activities;

how the undertaking’s business model and strategy take account of the interests of the undertaking’s stakeholders and of the impacts of the undertaking on sustainability matters;

how the undertaking’s strategy has been implemented with regard to sustainability matters;

a description of the time-bound targets related to sustainability matters set by the undertaking, including, where appropriate, absolute greenhouse gas emission reduction targets at least for 2030 and 2050, a description of the progress the undertaking has made towards achieving those targets, and a statement of whether the undertaking’s targets related to environmental factors are based on conclusive scientific evidence;

a description of the role of the administrative, management and supervisory bodies with regard to sustainability matters, and of their expertise and skills in relation to fulfilling that role or the access such bodies have to such expertise and skills;

a description of the undertaking’s policies in relation to sustainability matters;

information about the existence of incentive schemes linked to sustainability matters which are offered to members of the administrative, management and supervisory bodies;

a description of:

the due diligence process implemented by the undertaking with regard to sustainability matters, and, where applicable, in line with Union requirements on undertakings to conduct a due diligence process;

the principal actual or potential adverse impacts connected with the undertaking’s own operations and with its value chain, including its products and services, its business relationships and its supply chain, actions taken to identify and monitor those impacts, and other adverse impacts which the undertaking is required to identify pursuant to other Union requirements on undertakings to conduct a due diligence process;

any actions taken by the undertaking to prevent, mitigate, remediate or bring an end to actual or potential adverse impacts, and the result of such actions;

a description of the principal risks to the undertaking related to sustainability matters, including a description of the undertaking’s principal dependencies on those matters, and how the undertaking manages those risks;

indicators relevant to the disclosures referred to in points (a) to (g).

Undertakings shall report the process carried out to identify the information that they have included in the management report in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article. The information listed in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall include information related to short-, medium- and long-term time horizons, as applicable.

Where applicable, the information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall contain information about the undertaking’s own operations and about its value chain, including its products and services, its business relationships and its supply chain.

For the purposes of the third, fourth and fifth subparagraphs the following definitions apply:

‘reporting undertaking’ means an undertaking required to report pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article;

‘protected undertaking’ means an undertaking which:

does not exceed, on its balance sheet date, an average number of 1 000 employees during the preceding financial year; and

is in the value chain of a reporting undertaking;

‘voluntary standards’ means the standards for voluntary use as referred to in Article 29ca.

Reporting undertakings may rely on a self-declaration from undertakings in their value chain to determine whether they are protected undertakings. Reporting undertakings shall not be required to take steps to verify the information contained in such a self-declaration. However, they shall not rely on the self-declaration where they know, or can reasonably be expected to know, that the declaration is manifestly incorrect.

Protected undertakings shall have the right to decline to provide information exceeding the information specified in the voluntary standards in response to a request made for the purpose of sustainability reporting as required by this Directive. Furthermore:

when establishing contractual and other arrangements for the purpose of meeting the sustainability reporting requirements of this Directive, reporting undertakings shall not require protected undertakings to provide information exceeding the information specified in the voluntary standards;

any contractual provision contrary to point (a) shall not be binding, without however affecting the binding nature of the remaining provisions of the contract;

where a reporting undertaking requests information, directly or indirectly, from protected undertakings for the purpose of sustainability reporting as required by this Directive, and some or all of that information exceeds the information specified in the voluntary standards, that reporting undertaking shall ensure that protected undertakings are informed of the following:

which information exceeds the information specified in the voluntary standards; and

protected undertakings’ statutory right to decline to provide the information;

reporting undertakings that report the necessary value chain information without reporting from protected undertakings any information that exceeds the information specified in the voluntary standards are deemed to have complied with the obligation to report value chain information set out in the first subparagraph.

Nothing in the fourth subparagraph:

affects information requests for purposes other than the purpose of sustainability reporting as required by this Directive, including requests for the purpose of complying with Union requirements on undertakings to conduct a due diligence process; or

imposes or implies any obligation on any undertaking in the value chain to provide sustainability information.

For the first three years of being subject to sustainability reporting requirements in accordance with paragraph 1, and in the event that not all the necessary information regarding its value chain is available, the undertaking shall explain the efforts made to obtain the necessary information about its value chain, the reasons why not all of the necessary information could be obtained, and its plans to obtain the necessary information in the future. After that three-year transition period, the undertaking shall meet the reporting requirements for value chain information by using information directly obtained from undertakings in its value chain or estimates for that information, as appropriate.

Where applicable, the information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall also contain references to, and additional explanations of, the other information included in the management report in accordance with Article 19, and the amounts reported in the annual financial statements.

When reporting the information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, undertakings may omit the following information:

in exceptional cases, information the disclosure of which would be seriously prejudicial to the commercial position of the undertaking, provided that the following conditions are met:

such omission does not prevent a fair and balanced understanding of the undertaking’s development, performance and position, or of its principal risks or principal impacts;

the undertaking has determined that it is impossible to disclose the information in a manner that would enable it to meet the objectives of the disclosure requirement without seriously prejudicing its commercial position, for example on an aggregated basis;

the undertaking discloses the fact that it has used the exemption laid down in this subparagraph; and

the undertaking reassesses at each reporting date whether the information may still be omitted;

information corresponding to intellectual capital, intellectual property, know-how, technological information, or the results of innovation, which would qualify as a trade secret as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 13 ), provided that the following conditions are met:

the undertaking discloses the fact that it has used the exemption laid down in this subparagraph; and

the undertaking reassesses at each reporting date whether the information may still be omitted;

classified information defined in Article 2, point (7), of Regulation (EU) 2023/2418 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 14 ), provided that the following conditions are met:

the undertaking discloses the fact that it has used the exemption laid down in this subparagraph; and

the undertaking reassesses at each reporting date whether the information may still be omitted;

other information that is to be protected from unauthorised access or disclosure because of obligations laid down in other Union legal acts or national law, or in order to safeguard the privacy or security of a natural person or the security of a legal person, provided that the following conditions are met:

the undertaking discloses the fact that it has used the exemption laid down in this subparagraph; and

the undertaking reassesses at each reporting date whether the information may still be omitted.

Undertakings shall report the information referred to in paragraphs 1 to 3 of this Article in accordance with the sustainability reporting standards adopted pursuant to Article 29b.

The management of the undertaking shall inform the workers’ representatives at the appropriate level and discuss with them the relevant information and the means of obtaining and verifying sustainability information. The workers’ representatives’ opinion shall be communicated, where applicable, to the relevant administrative, management or supervisory bodies.

Undertakings that comply with the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 to 4 of this Article and undertakings that rely on the derogation laid down in paragraph 6 of this Article shall be deemed to have complied with the requirement set out in the third subparagraph of Article 19(1).

Provided that the conditions set out in the second subparagraph of this paragraph are met, an undertaking which is a subsidiary undertaking shall be exempted from the obligations set out in paragraphs 1 to 4 of this Article (“the exempted subsidiary undertaking”) if such undertaking and its subsidiary undertakings are included in the consolidated management report of a parent undertaking, drawn up in accordance with Articles 29 and 29a. An undertaking which is a subsidiary undertaking of a parent undertaking that is established in a third country shall also be exempted from the obligations set out in paragraphs 1 to 4 of this Article where such undertaking and its subsidiary undertakings are included in the consolidated sustainability reporting of that parent undertaking that is established in a third country and where that consolidated sustainability reporting is carried out in accordance with the sustainability reporting standards adopted pursuant to Article 29b or in a manner equivalent to those sustainability reporting standards, as determined in accordance with an implementing act on the equivalence of sustainability reporting standards adopted pursuant to the third subparagraph of Article 23(4) of Directive 2004/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 15 ).

The exemption in the first subparagraph shall be subject to the following conditions:

the management report of the exempted subsidiary undertaking contains all of the following information:

the name and registered office of the parent undertaking that reports information at group level in accordance with this Article or in a manner equivalent to the sustainability reporting standards adopted pursuant to Article 29b of this Directive, as determined in accordance with an implementing act on the equivalence of sustainability reporting standards adopted pursuant to the third subparagraph of Article 23(4) of Directive 2004/109/EC;

the weblinks to the consolidated management report of the parent undertaking or, where applicable, to the consolidated sustainability reporting of the parent undertaking, as referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph, and to the assurance opinion referred to in point (aa) of the second subparagraph of Article 34(1) of this Directive or to the assurance opinion referred to in point (b) of this subparagraph;

the information that the undertaking is exempted from the obligations set out in paragraphs 1 to 4 of this Article;

if the parent undertaking is established in a third country, its consolidated sustainability reporting and the assurance opinion on the consolidated sustainability reporting, expressed by one or more person(s) or firm(s) authorised to give an opinion on the assurance of sustainability reporting under the law governing that parent undertaking, are published in accordance with Article 30 of this Directive, and in accordance with the law of the Member State by which the exempted subsidiary undertaking is governed;

if the parent undertaking is established in a third country, the disclosures laid down in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 16 ), covering the activities carried out by the exempted subsidiary undertaking established in the Union and its subsidiary undertakings, are included in the management report of the exempted subsidiary undertaking, or in the consolidated sustainability reporting carried out by the parent undertaking established in a third country.

The Member State by whose national law the exempted subsidiary undertaking is governed may require that the consolidated management report or, where applicable, the consolidated sustainability report, of the parent undertaking is published in a language that that Member State accepts, and that any necessary translation into such language is provided. Any translation that has not been certified shall include a statement to that effect.

Undertakings which are exempted from preparing a management report in accordance with Article 37 shall not be obliged to provide the information referred to in points (a)(i) to (iii) of the second subparagraph of this paragraph, provided that such undertakings publish the consolidated management report in accordance with Article 37.

For the purposes of the first subparagraph of this paragraph, and where Article 10 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 applies, credit institutions referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph of Article 1(3) of this Directive that are permanently affiliated to a central body which supervises them under the conditions laid down in Article 10 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 shall be treated as subsidiary undertakings of that central body.

For the purposes of the first subparagraph of this paragraph, insurance undertakings referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 1(3) of this Directive that are part of a group, on the basis of financial relationships as referred to in point (c)(ii) of Article 212(1) of Directive 2009/138/EC, and which are subject to group supervision in accordance with points (a) to (c) of Article 213(2) of that Directive shall be treated as subsidiary undertakings of the parent undertaking of that group.

The exemption laid down in paragraph 9 shall also apply to public-interest entities subject to the requirements of this Article.