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Section 02 · Regulations & Standards Library

Which framework actually applies to you?

Most companies are juggling two or three of these at once without a clear map of which one is mandatory, which one is a stakeholder expectation, and which one is a nice-to-have. Here's the difference, in one table.

Framework Mandatory or voluntary Who it applies to What makes it distinct Official source
BRSR
Business Responsibility & Sustainability Report		 Mandatory in India Top 1,000 listed companies by market cap (SEBI-mandated) Nine-principle structure; BRSR Core subset carries a phased external assurance requirement SEBI circular ↗
GRI
Global Reporting Initiative		 Voluntary Any organisation, any sector, any geography The most widely recognised global baseline, often used to translate BRSR data for international audiences globalreporting.org ↗
TCFD → ISSB
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures		 Disbanded Oct 2023; recommendations now sit inside ISSB standards Investors, lenders, and any company reporting climate financial risk The four-pillar structure, governance, strategy, risk management, metrics & targets, still underpins most modern climate disclosure, including IFRS S2 ifrs.org (ISSB) ↗
ESRS
European Sustainability Reporting Standards		 Mandatory under EU CSRD, for companies within scope EU-listed companies and non-EU companies above EU revenue/presence thresholds, thresholds are currently being revised upward under the EU's Omnibus simplification package, so confirm the current figure rather than relying on a number here Requires "double materiality", impact on the company's finances, and the company's impact on people and planet European Commission ↗
SDGs
UN Sustainable Development Goals		 Voluntary (aspirational) Governments, NGOs, and companies choosing to align reporting narratives Not a disclosure standard, a shared vocabulary for connecting programme outcomes to a global goal (most relevant here: SDG 3 and SDG 13) sdgs.un.org ↗
SASB
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board		 Voluntary; industry-specific metrics now referenced inside ISSB standards Companies wanting sector-specific, investor-focused metrics Consolidated into the IFRS Foundation in 2022, SASB no longer operates as a standalone body, but its industry metrics live on inside IFRS S1 ifrs.org ↗
CDP
formerly Carbon Disclosure Project		 Voluntary, but frequently required by investors and large customers Companies responding to investor or supply-chain disclosure requests A questionnaire-based disclosure system, not a standard-setter, scores companies annually on climate, water and forests data cdp.net ↗

Click on any framework name above to go deeper, each one links to a dedicated page covering its structure, mechanics, and how it relates to the others.

The mandatory framework decides your deadline. The voluntary ones decide your credibility.

If you only have to satisfy one regulator, start there and treat the rest as translation layers, not separate projects. Most of the CSR budget conversations we sit in on are really BRSR conversations wearing a GRI vocabulary because that's the language the sustainability team learned first.

In Their Own Words

Each framework, explained the way its own documentation explains it

Same information as the table above, written out in full, with a direct link to primary source documentation for each, not a summary of a summary.

BRSR (Business Responsibility & Sustainability Report)
India's mandatory ESG disclosure format, required annually from the top 1,000 listed companies by market capitalisation as set by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), covering governance, environmental and social performance across nine principles.
GRI (Global Reporting Initiative)
An independent international standards organisation, the Global Reporting Initiative, has provided the common global language for sustainability reporting since 2000, used by organisations in more than 100 countries.
TCFD and its successor, ISSB
The IFRS Foundation confirms that TCFD's work was completed in 2023, with its recommendations fully incorporated into the ISSB's IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 standards. A company applying IFRS S2 meets the TCFD recommendations without needing to report against TCFD separately.
ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards)
Developed by EFRAG and adopted by the European Commission as the mandatory disclosure standard under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Which companies fall within scope is currently under revision through the EU's Omnibus simplification process, so treat any specific employee or revenue threshold as provisional until confirmed against the current text.
SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)
Seventeen goals adopted by all UN member states in 2015 as a shared blueprint for people and planet through 2030, maintained by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals programme. Not a reporting standard, a vocabulary companies use to connect programme outcomes to global priorities.
CDP
A global disclosure system run by CDP, not a standard-setter, through which companies, cities and regions report environmental data, climate, water security and forests, that gets scored annually and used heavily by investors and large corporate buyers as a supplier screening tool.

India-specific entries in this library are checked against SEBI and MoEFCC notifications at time of publication and re-verified quarterly. This page is educational context, not filing advice, confirm applicability thresholds with your company secretary or auditor before acting.

Not a Framework, but the Origin of All of Them

Where all of this actually comes from

None of the seven frameworks above are mandatory globally by accident, they trace back to a specific COP decision. If you want the full thirty-year history in one table, plus the 2030/2047/2050/2070 targets everyone quotes, that's a dedicated page.

See the full COP history & global targets

Abbreviations used on this page

BRSR: Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report · GRI: Global Reporting Initiative · TCFD: Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures · ISSB: International Sustainability Standards Board · ESRS: European Sustainability Reporting Standards · CSRD: Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive · SDG: Sustainable Development Goals · SASB: Sustainability Accounting Standards Board · CDP: Carbon Disclosure Project (now known simply as CDP) · COP: Conference of the Parties · ESG: Environmental, Social and Governance

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