Mazars welcomes the EU agreement on Sustainability Reporting and looks forward to the forthcoming Corporate Reporting review

The recent agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) paves the way for meaningful disclosure of environmental, social and governance information by large corporates in the European Union. Mazars welcomes such a pioneering initiative which, in line with the European Green deal, will significantly contribute to reset the way the financial markets function, and will foster the transition towards a more sustainable and inclusive EU economy.

CSRD is a rule changer: by 2025, companies will report on both the impact of sustainability matters on their own development, and the impact of their business activities?on the environment and society. Hence, investors and all stakeholders will benefit from reliable public information on key sustainability risks and opportunities – which will incentivise the allocation of capital to companies and activities that positively address key social, environmental and governance challenges.?

As an active EU audit firm, we fully embrace the enhanced responsibility to increase confidence over this new sustainability audit and assurance framework. Indeed, the auditors, who will provide assurance on sustainability data and ensure consistency between financial and sustainability information, are a critical piece of this new puzzle.

Hence, we strongly support the EU initiative to review the EU corporate reporting framework, triggered by the 2021 Commission’s Call for evidence and the aim of Commissioner McGuinness to have a legislative proposal ready by the end of 2022, to further enhance audit quality and create a more open and diversified EU audit market - which are the conditions to deliver and achieve CSRD ambitions.