From Voluntary Disclosure to Reporting on One’s Own Employees: ESG and Labor Law, ArbeidsRecht 2024/19

At both the national and international levels, various legislative and regulatory proposals are currently being introduced at a rapid pace, and they are becoming increasingly demanding. Under the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, many companies will be required to report on the three ESG factors in a sustainability report as of January 1, 2025. In this article, the author provides an overview of recent developments in the field of ESG and discusses in more detail the obligation to report on one’s own workforce.

1.1 An umbrella term

ESG refers to a reporting framework that allows companies to publish—and in some cases requires them to publish—information about their sustainability performance. The term ESG is not strictly defined and encompasses topics related to “sustainable” or “socially responsible” business practices.