On May 11,2021, under Section 11(1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI) Act, 1992 read with Regulation 101 of the Listing of Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR), SEBI issued new disclosure norms over the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR), for the top 1,000 listed companies (by market capitalisation) by FY23.
Objective: To enable businesses to be responsible and sustainable towards the environment and society.
What is BRSR?
BRSR is an initiative towards ensuring that investors have access to standardized disclosures on ESG parameters.Access to relevant and comparable information, will enable investors to identify and assess sustainability-related risks and opportunities of companies and make better investment decisions.
Background:
i.On November 04, 2015, SEBI has prescribed the format for the Business Responsibility Report (BRR)in respect of reporting on ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) parameters.
ii.On May 05, 2021, SEBI amended the Listing of Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) rules and decided to introduce new reporting requirements on ESG parameters called – BRSR (sustainability-related reporting).
Key points:
i.The change over from the existing BRR to BRSR will make sustainability reporting as good as financial reporting.
ii.In order to give time to adapt to the new requirements, the companies are allowed to report BRSR on a voluntary basis for FY22 and it was made mandatory from FY23.
iii.Under BRSR the listed entities have to make disclosures on their performance against the 9 principles of the ‘National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct’(NGBRC).
Regulations on the format of BRSR:
The companies’ BRSR report should provide the disclosures regarding,
i.Environment-related disclosures – It should enclose the Resource usage (energy and water), air pollutant emissions, green-house (GHG) emissions, transitioning to a circular economy, waste generated and waste management practices, bio-diversity.
ii.The social-related disclosures – It has to cover the workforce, value chain, communities and consumers.
- The gender and social diversity of employees, including measures for differently-abled employees and workers, turnover rates, median wages, welfare benefits to permanent and contractual employees/workers, occupational health and safety and training also have to be included.
iii.At the community level the companies need to provide disclosures on social impact assessments (SIA), rehabilitation and resettlement and corporate social responsibility.
iv.Disclosures regarding the product labelling, product recall and complaints in respect of data privacy and cybersecurity (for customers) also need to be provided.
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About Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):
Establishment – 1992
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
Chairman – Ajay Tyagi
