CSRD and ESRS

AVA produces sustainability reports in accordance with CSRD and ESRS for listed companies, from start to finish. For companies that fall outside the scope of the CSRD, we also work with GRI and the voluntary standard VS, and help you decide which framework is right for you.

Both. We work as sustainability consultants on CSRD, ESRS, double materiality analysis, gap analysis and regulatory compliance, while also having the capital markets expertise needed to turn that work into communication that actually reaches investors and analysts. This combination of regulatory expertise and communication skills is what sets us apart from both pure sustainability consultants and pure communications agencies

The reporting requirement now applies to companies with more than 1,000 employees and annual net sales above SEK 4.9 billion. In practice, the revised threshold means that around 80 per cent of the companies originally expected to report now fall outside the mandatory requirement. However, a formal exemption does not mean you escape the requirements set by your investors, banks and customers in the supply chain. AVA is here to guide you through alternative reporting routes.

Read more in our article about Omnibus and CSRD →

The European Commission adopted the simplified ESRS standards on 3 July 2026. The standards enter into force after a scrutiny period of 2–4 months, during which the European Parliament and the Council can approve them. The plan is for the revised requirements to apply from the 2027 financial year, but early application is possible already for the 2026 financial year.

The mandatory data points are reduced by 60 per cent and the total number of data points by more than 70 per cent compared with the original standards. The structure also changes: sector-specific standards are dropped, ESRS 2 is no longer mandatory in the same way, and the materiality assessment becomes more principles-based and flexible.

Read more in our article about simplified ESRS →

In our annual review of large companies' sustainability reports, we see that the strongest reports name their IROs and consistently refer back to them, communicate the phase-in provisions early and in one place, prioritise readability over ticking boxes, and treat the report as a communications document rather than a purely compliance one. What's more, the best reports are not necessarily the longest.

Read more in our article about best practice for CSRD reporting →

GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) is a voluntary international standard that many companies around the world have used for a long time, whereas CSRD is an EU directive with statutory reporting requirements under ESRS. The frameworks partly overlap but differ in requirements, structure and target audience. If you have previously reported under GRI and now need to apply CSRD, AVA helps you identify which material can be reused and what needs to be adapted or supplemented.

VS (Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard) is a voluntary European standard developed by EFRAG for companies that are not covered by CSRD. The standard has two modules: a basic module with eleven reporting requirements and a more comprehensive module for companies that want to present a fuller picture of their sustainability work. VS requires considerably fewer resources than CSRD and is particularly relevant for companies facing requirements from banks, investors or customers.

VS will also serve as a reference framework for the so-called value chain cap in CSRD. This means that large companies may not request more sustainability information from their suppliers than VS covers. VS is therefore expected to become the central framework for companies with fewer than 1,000 employees.

AVA can help you decide whether VS is the right level for you and guide you through the process.

We don't carry out climate calculations ourselves, but we advise on which systems and methods suit your business and help you quality-assure the underlying data. Our strength lies in turning climate data into communication – we interpret the figures, place them in the right context and ensure they are presented in a way that gives investors and analysts the right basis for their assessments.

After Omnibus, most companies fall outside CSRD, but banks, investors and customers in the supply chain still require sustainability information. We can help you choose the right level, such as reporting under VS or GRI, and produce a report that answers the questions your stakeholders are actually asking.