Terms and Legal SourcesCSRD, ESRS, EU Taxonomy, TCFD, XBRL, laws, directives, regulations, etc.
This post is designed to help you get started with the complex topic of ESG reporting. EU regulations are often a maze of abbreviations and legal texts – confusing and challenging. But don’t worry: we have compiled the most important terms and guidelines for you in a concise and understandable format.
In our glossary, you will find everything you need at a glance: from CSRD and ESRS to the EU Taxonomy and XBRL tagging. Additionally, we provide an overview of key legal texts, organized by legal frameworks, that are relevant to sustainability reporting. No more time-consuming research and disorganized sources – all essential information is available to you in one place.
Chairman of the Board, mms solutions
Commonly used English abbreviations and technical terms are not translated. For authorities, organizations, and standards, the German translation is only provided if an official translation exists or if the term has become established in German-speaking regions.
To help you navigate more easily, we have compiled the most important terms for you:
A - E
API Application Programming Interface
BI Business Intelligence
CBAM Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism A mechanism introducing a carbon levy on certain imports to prevent carbon leakage and promote cleaner industrial production
CDSB Climate Disclosure Standards Board
CERES Coalition of Environmentally Responsible Economies
CFO Chief Financial Officer
CMS Content Management System
CPM Corporate Performance Management
CSDDD Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive An EU directive that requires companies to identify, prevent, and mitigate negative impacts on human rights and the environment in their business operations and supply chains
CSO Chief Sustainability Officer
CSRD Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive An EU directive requiring companies to identify, prevent, and mitigate negative impacts on human rights and the environment within their operations and supply chains
EIOPA European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority
EPM Enterprise Performance Management
ESAP European Single Access Point
ESEF European Single Electronic Format
ESG Environmental, Social and Governance
ESMA European Securities and Markets Authority
ESRS European Sustainability Reporting Standards Standards developed under the CSRD to define more detailed sustainability reporting requirements
EU European Union
EU Taxonomy A classification system that categorizes economic activities based on their environmental sustainability, aiming to promote investments in sustainable projects
IESBA International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants
IFRS International Financial Reporting Standards; ab 2001
IIRC International Integrated Reporting Council
ISSB International Sustainability Standards Board
iXBRL Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NSRS ESRS for Non-EU Groups
O - Z
OAM Officially Appointed Mechanism
Omnibus An EU regulation that consolidates several existing directives, including CSRD, CSDDD, and the EU Taxonomy, to simplify sustainability reporting.
OR Swiss Code of Obligations
PDF Portable Document Format
PIE Public Interest Entity
SaaS Software as a Service
SASB Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
SEC United States Securities and Exchange Commission
SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation): Requires financial market participants to disclose how they integrate sustainability risks into their investment decisions
SME Small and medium-sized enterprises
SDG UN Sustainable Development Goals
SME Small and medium-sized enterprises
Tagging The process of tagging data points in reports to define their structure and content and to enable machine readability.
TCFD Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
UN United Nations
UNGP United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
UVEK Swiss Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy, and Communications
VRF Value Reporting Foundation
VSME Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for SMEs A voluntary standard specifically developed for non-listed small and medium-sized enterprises to simplify and standardize sustainability reporting
WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get
XBRL eXtensible Business Reporting Language
Laws, Directives, and Regulations
Laws are binding regulations. Directives specify objectives that must be implemented in national laws. Regulations are directly applicable.
Below the regulations are classified by jurisdiction. Swiss regulations are preceded by the number from the systematic collection of laws (SR = Systematische Rechtssammlung); EU regulations are preceded by the number of the legal act. Common abbreviations are added in brackets.
SR 221.433 Ordinance on Due Diligence and Transparency in relation to Minerals and Metals from Conflict-Affected Areas and Child Labour. fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2021/847/en
1606/2002 Ordinance on the Application of International Accounting Standards (IAS Ordinance)
2004/109 Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market and amending Directive 2001/34/EC (Transparancy Directive) Richtlinie - 2004/109 - EN - EUR-Lex
2013/34 Directive on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements, and related reports of certain types of undertakings, amending Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC (Text with EEA relevance), L 182/19 (2013). (Accounting Directive) Directive - 2013/34 - EN - ifrs - EUR-Lex
2014/56 Directive on Statutory Audits (Statutory Audit Directive
2014/95 Directive amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards the disclosure of non-financial information (Non-Financial Reporting Directive, NFRD or CSR Directive)
2017/1132 Directive on Certain Aspects of Company Law (Company Law Directive)
2018/815 Delegated Regulation supplementing the Transparency Directive with regard to regulatory technical standards for the specification of a single electronic reporting format (ESEF Regulation)
2019/2088 Regulation on sustainability-related disclosure obligations in the financial services sector (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, SFDR or Disclosure Regulation)
2021/2178 Delegated Regulation supplementing Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying the content and presentation of the information (EU Taxonomy templates)