Government draft for Germany's implementation of the CSRD published

published on 1 October, 2024 | Reading time approx. 2 minutes

The implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which obliges companies within its scope to disclose extensive information on sustainability aspects, is becoming more concrete in Germany. On July 24, 2024, the long-awaited government draft for the German implementation of the CSRD was approved by the Federal Cabinet and published on the website of the Federal Ministry of Justice. The precursor to the government draft was the ministerial draft published on March 22, 2024, to which federal states, associations, and the public could provide feedback until April 19, 2024. Before final signing, the government draft must now pass the Bundesrat and the Bundestag in the legislative process.

Substantively, the government draft adheres to a 1:1 principle of the CSRD — meaning it does not exceed EU requirements. However, the European legislator has granted member states some discretion on specific points, such as who will be approved as auditors of sustainability reports in the future. In this regard, as in the ministerial draft, the government draft designates the auditing of sustainability reports as a reserved task for auditors. The government draft also includes specific provisions concerning synergies with the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) and the digital tagging of sustainability reports.

Detailed information on the contents of the government draft and the specific implications for reporting can be found in this » article from our “ESG News”. Additionally, the German Accounting Standards Committee (DRSC) published a briefing paper on August 1, 2024, with an overview of the key legislative changes.