As the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) begins to affect companies that do business in the European Union, our team is developing a series of resources to guide apparel and consumer goods brands through the details of compliance with this regulation.

While ‘pollution’ isn’t as big of a sustainability buzzword as circularity, emissions, or biodiversity, it is in fact a wide-reaching and comprehensive topic within CSRD. In this article, we delve into ESRS 2, Pollution, which outlines the CSRD requirements related to pollution underscores its significance in the broader sustainability landscape.

What does pollution disclosure encompass?

Within the context of CSRD, the term ‘pollution’ spans multiple categories, including water, air, soil, chemicals, and waste. As in other sections of the regulation, businesses are expected to disclose on actual impacts, risks, and opportunities related to pollution — including policies to manage these and targets for reducing impact over time. Understanding and effectively addressing these topics is pivotal for businesses aiming to align with CSRD guidelines.

How can Worldly help?

The Higg Index, hosted on Worldly, can support businesses across many of these categories. Specifically, the Higg Brand and Retail Module (BRM) dedicates comprehensive sections to water, waste, and chemicals. These align closely with the disclosure requirements outlined in ESRS E2. Brands and retailers using the Higg BRM are prompted to evaluate whether they’ve set corporate targets related to restricted chemical substances, waste management, and water quality.

Additionally, the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) offers facility data across water, wastewater, air, and chemicals, including both qualitative data on management systems and quantitative performance data on pollutants. Brands can also use the Higg FEM to understand the targets set by their upstream value chain partners across pollution-related measures such as water withdrawal reduction, waste quantity reduction, disposal method improvement, and air pollution. Under CSRD, this data can prove invaluable for businesses aiming to establish targeted, effective pollution reduction goals across their value chains.

However, it’s worth noting that the Higg FEM is not designed as a comprehensive value chain chemical management system. Therefore, the use of other frameworks such as ZDHC and bluesign may be necessary to support some disclosure requirements under ESRS E2. 

Ready to get started?

For a more in-depth exploration of the technical aspects involved in pollution-related disclosure under CSRD, we invite you to get in touch with our CS team. We’ve developed a full technical white paper that provides comprehensive guidance to ensure your business is well-prepared for CSRD compliance. 

Take the first step – contact our team today.