If you’ve only been in the environmental/sustainability space a few years, the abbreviation EMAS might be new to you. But EMAS, the EU’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme was promulgated in 2009. It is an environmental management system framework that includes reporting criteria. More than 4,000 companies in the EU have implemented EMAS (their names are listed in publicly-available and searchable EMAS Register). Even so, in recent years EMAS to a large extent drifted out of sight in the broader ESG/sustainability push. Now EFRAG has released a paper that “identifies the synergies and differences between EMAS and the first set of ESRS by mapping the environmental and cross-cutting reporting requirements of the ESRS to those of EMAS”.
EFRAG has some good news about ESRS disclosures for those that implement EMAS:
“the management system put in place in accordance with EMAS can meaningfully complement and support environmental reporting under the ESRS by providing useful data and monitoring progress in meeting targets. As the mapping below shows, some of the information reported by EMAS organisations in their environmental statements can be used for ESRS disclosures.”
Nice.
The report’s Appendices may be most helpful, especially Appendix I, which gives an overview of where EMAS links with ESRS 2 and topical ESRS on E1, E2, E3, E4 and E5. It also gives an indication of “correspondence” – whether EMAS fully or partially meets the ESRS criteria or if there is a gap altogether.
EFRAG points out that EMAS only addresses environmental pillars/elements of ESRS criteria, so don’t expect to meet all your disclosure needs through your EMAS program.
Members can learn more about environmental/sustainability disclosures here.
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