MEMA Summary: ESG Disclosure Standards - November 2023

Environmental, Social, and Government (ESG) disclosure standards have been voluntary practice for years. Organizations like the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) have developed widely used standards that have been adopted by corporations around the world. The success of these standards has resulted in their use as a template as governments develop legislation and regulations that will make this voluntary practice mandatory.
This summary provides an overview of the European environmental regulations that serve as a backdrop for the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). It also reviews pre-existing standards and concepts, such as materiality, that are crucial to understanding these regulatory frameworks. Next, this summary reviews and compares standards from the EU, International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Finally, this summary reviews the recent ESG legislation from California that adopts a broader approach than the one expected from the SEC final rule.