According to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) under the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772, stakeholders are defined as individuals or groups who can affect or be affected by the undertaking. The ESRS distinguishes between two main groups of stakeholders:

Affected stakeholders: These are individuals or groups whose interests are affected or could be affected – positively or negatively – by the undertaking’s activities and its direct and indirect business relationships across its value chain.

Users of sustainability statements: These include primary users of general-purpose financial reporting (e.g., existing and potential investors, lenders, and other creditors such as asset managers, credit institutions, and insurance undertakings) and other users, including the undertaking’s business partners, trade unions, social partners, civil society and non-governmental organizations, governments, analysts, and academics​.

Furthermore, engagement with affected stakeholders is a crucial aspect of the undertaking’s ongoing due diligence process and sustainability materiality assessment. This involves identifying and assessing actual and potential negative impacts to inform the materiality assessment process for sustainability reporting​.

Official References:

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 of 31 July 2023 supplementing Directive 2013/34/EU on sustainability reporting standards​.

ESRS 1: General Requirements, Section 3.1 (Stakeholders and their relevance to the materiality assessment process).