The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) significantly expands sustainability reporting requirements for companies in the EU. The CSRD also specifically states that sustainability information should reach organisations which wish to better hold undertakings to account for their impacts on people and the environment. Dutch law has a specific procedure for disputes in which the content of the annual account is in dispute: the 'annual account procedure'. This article examines the annual account procedure as a means for ESG litigation on sustainability reporting in the Netherlands, in the context of the CSRD and the associated sustainability reporting standards (ESRS). The Enterprise Chamber, a specialized business court that handles all annual account procedures, could play an important role in weighing the sustainability reporting standards. Additionally, this contribution discusses the concept of double materiality in the CSRD, sanctions for noncompliance with sustainability reporting rules, the definition of stakeholders in the annual account procedure, and the role of the Dutch Financial Markets Authority (AFM) in light of the CSRD and ESRS.
European Company Law