BRSR | Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting

Applicability of Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting BRSR

Reporting under the new requirements of Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting has been made mandatory for top 1,000 listed companies by market capitalization from FY 2022-23 onwards.

Other companies can voluntarily submit BRSR effective 2021-22.
For the purpose of determining applicability of the requirement, market capitalization would be calculated as on 31 March of every financial year.

Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting and unlisted companies

As per the MCA committee recommendation, the reporting requirement may be extended by MCA to unlisted companies based on specified thresholds of turnover or paid-up capital.

Further, the committee recommends that on a voluntary basis, smaller unlisted companies below this threshold limit may adopt a lite version of the format.

Two formats for disclosures are available; a comprehensive format for listed companies; and a lite version for unlisted companies, in case it is extended to them.

Steps for Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting

Companies who are mandated to comply with SEBI BRSR reporting requirements need to invest in necessary mechanisms which could help in the following aspects:

• Selection of the relevant and applicable ESG requirements material to the organization
• Enable capturing the required data for reporting on the selected ESG issues
• Selection of a suitable framework and related metrics that can be adopted by companies to facilitate transparent and accurate reporting
• Level of assurance to be provided on such reporting

ESG Reporting and Global Movements

Governments of several countries have introduced disclosures on sustainability reporting. Countries like Denmark, South Africa, China, Malaysia and Philippines require certain companies to make disclosures in relation to their non-financial performance across ESG aspects.

EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive is one of the most significant EU-wide legislative initiatives to promote sustainability reporting. Climate change related reporting is prevalent in Australia, Mexico, USA,and in France. The Modern Slavery Act, first enacted by the UK in 2015 and more recently by Australia,asks each company to report on modern slavery not just in its operations but also in its global supply chains, thereby including many SMEs in emerging markets.

International investors with global investment portfolios are increasingly calling for high quality, transparent, reliable and comparable reporting by companies on climate and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters.

On 3 November 2021, the IFRS Foundation Trustees announced the creation of a new standard-setting board—the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

The ISSB will benefit from the consolidation of global bodies (Climate Disclosure Standards Board – CDSB, International Integrated Reporting Council – IIRC and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board – SASB) – as well as the support of International Organization of Securities Commission – IOSCO, Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures – TCFD and World Economic Forum – WEF). Together they share the aim of enterprise value-focused sustainability disclosures.

The World Economic Forum has also released a set of universal ESG metrics and disclosures that companies can report on. These metrics and disclosures are aligned with the UN SDGs: Principles of governance, planet, people and prosperity.

BRSR and Other Standards

Companies preparing and disclosing sustainability reports based on internationally accepted reporting frameworks such as GRI, SASB, TCFD, , are allowed to cross refere the disclosures made under such framework to the disclosures sought under BRSR.

Companies may leverage existing disclosures to avoid repetitions.

Mandatory reporting under BRSR shall not restrict companies from making extensive disclosures in their annual reports voluntarily through integrated reporting or other sustainability report frameworks.

Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report or BRSR Advisory and Consultancy

Use our more than 12 years of global experience in Sustainability and ESG related solutions.

Investors, corporations, private equity firms, and stock exchanges are increasingly seeking robust ESG management as part of their due diligence around investments, mergers, and acquisitions.

The move towards BRSR is in line with the emerging trends globally on reporting on ESG matters.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) introduced new requirements for sustainability reporting by listed entities. The new reporting called the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) will replace the existing Business Responsibility Report (BRR).

Non-financial, sustainability reporting provides an opportunity to businesses to communicate in an open and transparent way with stakeholders.

As an Independent Sustainability and ESG Consulting Firm, Consultivo offers complete Communication and Disclosure solutions for Corporate Reporting that includes GRI Based Sustainability Reporting, ESG Reporting, CSR Reporting, Carbon Footprint Reporting, Sustainability Communication Report and other Custom Built Reports.

Well-composed public disclosure communication in the form of sustainability reporting provides investors and stakeholders with a clear understanding of a company’s approach, goals, and performance on the social and environmental issues most material to their business.

Quality Content

• As-Is-Situation
• Material Risks and Opportunities
• Risk Management Plan

Independent Disclosure, Transparency & Communications

• Easy to understand professional quality business language
• Clear and concise reporting
• Improvised data visualization through analytics, charts, graphs, and infographics

Consultivo as an organization has acquired a wealth of knowledge and expertise in numerous multi-location environmental, health & safety, and social projects and ESG efforts; while partnering with its customers in the capacity of an advisor, consultant, assessor, or trainer.

We identify, quantify and prioritize current, contingent, and future ESG and sustainability exposures. Our experience allows us to anticipate issues, enabling them to be proactively addressed before transaction timelines are impacted.

Our BRSR advisory offerings include:

• Deep industry experience as well as ESG and sustainability expertise and
• A holistic approach that looks beyond ESG and sustainability liabilities and risks to identify opportunities

Being a practicing Sustainability Consulting Firm, Consultivo Knowledge Management system and competent resources are well organized to support our customers on any generic or industry / organization specific standards in the areas of Sustainability, Business Risk, and Business Excellence. Our team has rich experience in Environmental, social, and governance issues and sustainability practices.

We work with global codes, standards, and guidelines especially GRI Standards, TCFD, CDP, SASB, Legal requirements in India, IFC Performance Standards (IFC PS), World Bank EHS Guidelines etc.