CSRD Reporting Software and ESRS Data Collection
Formist maps ESRS datapoints, runs the double materiality driven gap analysis, and generates the data collection templates a CSRD disclosure needs. It cross references the result against GRI, CDP and ISSB/IFRS S1 and S2 where the content overlaps.
How the mapping and gap analysis work
Four steps, the same ones behind the ESRS datapoint mapper skill.
- Scope the wave
Formist determines which CSRD wave applies from your employee count, turnover and listing status, since Wave 1 through 4 each use a different standard set and start year.
- Run the double materiality assessment
Each ESRS topic, E1 to E5, S1 to S4, G1, is assessed for impact materiality, financial materiality, or both. A topic is material if it meets either test, assessed across the value chain, not just your own operations.
- Map and filter datapoints
Every datapoint under the material topics, plus the always mandatory ESRS 2 general disclosures, is tagged mandatory, voluntary, or still unsettled under the Omnibus I simplification, and checked against company size phase-in rules.
- Compare against what you have
Your existing data inventory is checked datapoint by datapoint. Anything missing or partial becomes a prioritised action in the gap analysis, with a suggested likely data source.
What it produces
An XBRL-JSON datapoint file compliant with the ESRS Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772, ready to validate a tagged report before filing.
An Excel data collection template with the gap analysis, identifying mandatory, phased-in and voluntary datapoints.
What is inside
Assesses both impact materiality and financial materiality per ESRS topical standard, the basis for which datapoints are mandatory.
Maps the roughly 1,100 datapoints across ESRS 1, ESRS 2 and the ten topical standards (E1 to E5, S1 to S4, G1).
Tracks the 2025 Omnibus I simplification package, which reduces datapoint scope and has deferred Wave 2 and 3 timelines.
Content that overlaps with GRI, CDP and ISSB/IFRS S1-S2 is reused rather than collected twice.
A worked example: one datapoint
Datapoint E1-6, "Gross Scopes 1, 2, 3 and Total GHG emissions", illustrative only.
- Datapoint ID
- E1-6
- Standard
- E1, Climate Change
- Data type
- Quantitative
- Mandatory status
- Mandatory (Scope 3 may be omitted in year one for companies with 750 or fewer employees)
- Likely data source
- GHG accounting system or Scope 1/2/3 inventory
- Cross reference
- GRI 305-1 to 305-4, CDP C6.1 to C6.5, IFRS S2 paragraph 29
The gap analysis reports this datapoint as covered, partial or missing against your own inventory, not a default assumption.
What stays yours
Formist’s output is an XBRL-JSON datapoint file to validate a tagged report before filing, not the final Inline XBRL sustainability statement itself. Tagging it into the management report and filing through ESMA’s ESEF system is your own or your filing agent’s step.
CSRD requires limited assurance from the first reporting year, moving toward reasonable assurance later. That review is an external auditor’s job. Formist’s gap analysis is there to make the underlying data ready for it, not to replace it.
When a datapoint cannot be answered yet
A datapoint with no matching entry in your data inventory is listed as a gap with a priority and a suggested data source, never filled in with an assumed value.
Some datapoints sit in a genuine grey zone: mandatory under the original 2023 ESRS text, but proposed as voluntary under the still unadopted Omnibus I simplification. Formist reports these as their own category rather than quietly picking one answer.
Frequently asked questions
Who must comply with CSRD and when?
CSRD applies in waves. Wave 1, large listed EU companies and large PIEs, reported first on FY2024 data in 2025. Wave 2 has been deferred to FY2027 under the 2025 Omnibus I proposal, with later waves following. Timelines are currently under revision.
What is double materiality?
The ESRS principle that a company must assess both impact materiality, how it affects people and the environment, and financial materiality, how sustainability matters affect its own financial performance. A topic is material under either.
In what format do ESRS disclosures have to be filed?
As part of the management report, in Inline XBRL tagged against the ESRS XBRL taxonomy. Formist produces an XBRL-JSON datapoint file to validate the tagged report before filing.
Do non-EU companies need to comply?
Non-EU groups with significant EU presence, more than EUR 450 million net turnover in the EU for two consecutive years plus a qualifying EU subsidiary or branch, fall under CSRD for FY2028 reports as revised by Omnibus (the pre-Omnibus threshold was EUR 150 million). Many others report voluntarily.
What is the Omnibus I proposal?
A 2025 European Commission package that reduces the scope and number of ESRS datapoints, delays reporting timelines for Waves 2 and 3 by two years, and revises value chain reporting. Several provisions are still under legislative review.
Start your CSRD disclosure
Tell us which wave you report under, and we will walk you through the gap analysis with your own documents.