ESG Reporting

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting has become a major regulatory issue in Europe. Non-financial disclosure is seen as playing a key role in helping the financial sector address climate change and sustainability. It is also being used to assess and improve problems such as poor workplace diversity and gender pay gaps.

This article provides an outline of EU legislation followed by an overview of ESG law in France, by Jean-Nicolas Clément, Didier Martin and Sophie Scemla, partners, and Benjamin Krief, counsel, at Gide Loyrette Nouel.

PRINCIPAL EU ESG REPORTING LEGISLATION

The Non-Financial Reporting Directive 2014/95 (NFRD) came into effect in 2018. It requires public interest entities with 500 or more employees to disclose in their annual report their impact on, and policies relating to, matters including environmental, social, employee and human rights concerns. That report should also describe an entity's diversity policy for its