ESRS Data Points

ESRS data points are the smallest, individually identifiable items of information within the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). Every disclosure requirement is linked to one or more concrete data points that a company must report in its sustainability statement. They range from quantitative metrics such as Scope 1 emissions in tonnes of CO2 equivalent, through narrative descriptions of strategies and actions, to simple yes/no answers about whether a given policy exists. EFRAG has catalogued all data points in a machine-readable register (ESRS Datapoints Implementation Guidance, IG 3), which contains more than 1,100 individual disclosures.

Which data points are mandatory to report follows from the double materiality assessment. The ESRS distinguish between mandatory data points and data points that are subject to materiality: the cross-cutting disclosures of ESRS 2, along with certain individual data points, must always be reported, whereas topic-specific data points in the environmental, social and governance standards only have to be disclosed where the related sustainability matter has been identified as material. In addition, the data point register flags phase-in reliefs, for example for smaller undertakings or for complex metrics during the first reporting years.

A key purpose of the data point system is to make sustainability information comparable and digitally processable. Each data point is linked to the ESRS XBRL taxonomy (ESEF), so that the disclosures can be electronically tagged and published in a machine-readable form within the management report. In practice this means that companies must not only collect the right content, but also structure it correctly and make it available for assurance (limited assurance). Mastering the data point catalogue is therefore a prerequisite for CSRD-compliant reporting.