/ Sustainability report

The Sustainability/Non-Financial report is mandatory for large companies and it was established by the Estonian regulators in order to analyse the impact of large businesses on society, environment and human rights.

The report also explains what companies are actively doing in order to prevent corruption and provides further information about the data contained in annual account reports.

/ Legal framework

Based on §24 of the Estonian Accounting Act companies with more than 500 employees must set out information on the environmental and social impacts resulting from its activities, and issues concerning the human resources management, the observation of human rights and anticorruption efforts in the management report to a necessary extent, adding where relevant additional explanations or referring to the information set out in the annual accounts, in order to get an overview of the development, performance, position and impacts of the activities of the accounting entity.

Smaller entities are allowed and even encouraged to publish their own sustainability reports annually, even if they are not yet legally required to do so. However, getting into the habit of publishing an annual sustainability report is good practice for the upcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which will impose a reporting requirement for most large and midsized companies in the EU, which are not yet legally required to submit a report.

/ For which companies is it mandatory?

/ What's included

Company’s business model.
Environmental and social impacts resulting from its activity.
Issues concerning the human resource management, the observation of human rights and anticorruption efforts.
The policy implemented with regard to the impacts and issues specified in previous number (3) and the results thereof, including the performance of the implemented due diligence standards.
The main risks related to the impacts and issues specified in number 3 and risk management, including business relationships, goods offered and sold, and services offered and provided, the nature or extent whereof renders it probable that such activities will have negative environmental or social impact or any other negative impact regarding the issues specified in number 3.
Important non-financial performance indicators.

/ Our standards

We use GRI standards that are internationally recognised and are the most popular and effective for making Sustainability Reports. GRI provides sustainability reporting tools and guidance that easily covers all fields of industry. Additionally, GRI provides industry-specific standards, in order to give specific and exact tools for reporting for the oil and gas industry, coal industry, mining sector as well as for agriculture, aquaculture, and fishing industry.

/ Legal fees

The legal fees involved in the application for a Sustainability/Non-Financial Report can be assessed on a case-by-case basis and depend on the scope of work, and start from EUR 4,000. For small and mid-sized companies the starting price could be lower.

/ Deadline

6 months after the end of the financial year.