Feedback on the proposed Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and related Article 8 Taxonomy disclosures - April 2022
In view of the ongoing trilogue negotiations, the Swiss Finance Council has co-signed a letter on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) outlining our proposal to mitigate the issues raised by the extraterritorial application of the CSRD. The ultimate objective of the proposal is to to build an effective international framework for sustainability reporting, which maximises the interoperability of local reporting standards, avoid fragmentation, promote greater transparency, consistency and comparability of disclosures.
Most importantly, our proposal would be beneficial for both EU and non-EU companies that are faced with the challenge of reporting on exposures for operations in third countries where sustainability information is unlikely to be available given the absence of legal requirements for companies outside the EU to disclose the same sustainability data as companies inside the EU. Among the others, we advocate for:
???? A transitional period during which the scope of sustainability reporting for both EU and non-EU companies could be limited to EU activities and EU exposures to companies that are subject to the CSRD and Taxonomy disclosure rules.
???? Allowing both EU and non-EU companies to comply with CSRD requirements by having the option of using the ISSB standards or other national standards based on those of the ISSB to report on non-EU exposures.