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ESG regulatory landscape scanner

Maps the full set of ESG reporting, disclosure, and due diligence regulations that apply to a company based on its industry, size, and geographic footprint — covering CSRD, EU Taxonomy, SFDR, CSDDD, SEC climate rules…

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Purpose

Produce a definitive, company-specific map of which ESG reporting and disclosure regulations apply — with applicability tests, phase-in dates, core requirements, and a prioritized action sequence — so sustainability, legal, and compliance leaders can stop guessing about exposure and start planning against firm deadlines.

When to Use

Invoke this skill when the user asks to:

  • Determine which ESG disclosure regulations apply to their company
  • Assess CSRD, EU Taxonomy, or CSDDD applicability and timing
  • Prepare for ISSB / IFRS S1-S2 or SEC climate rule adoption
  • Build a multi-year ESG compliance and reporting roadmap
  • Brief the board, audit committee, or executives on upcoming reporting obligations
  • Understand reporting obligations triggered by entering a new market or crossing a size threshold

Inputs Required

Before starting, collect:

  • Primary industry/sector: Including any high-impact subsectors (energy, mining, finance, textiles, agriculture)
  • Headquarters jurisdiction: Where the parent entity is incorporated
  • Geographic footprint: Countries of operation, sales, and material supply chain presence — especially EU revenue
  • Company size: Employees, net turnover, and balance sheet total (used for EU thresholds); public vs. private status
  • Listing status: Stock exchanges where listed, if any (drives SEC, ISSB-jurisdiction, and equity-market rules)
  • Financial market activity: Whether the company is a financial market participant or sells investment products (triggers SFDR)
  • Existing reporting: Any current TCFD, GRI, CDP, or voluntary disclosures already in place

If turnover or balance-sheet figures are missing, ask for an approximate band; EU thresholds turn on these and cannot be reasonably estimated without them.

Instructions

Step 1: Establish the Applicability Profile

Build a one-paragraph profile summarizing the inputs and flag the four trigger dimensions that determine regulatory exposure:

  • Incorporation jurisdiction (home-country rules)
  • EU nexus (EU subsidiary, branch, listing, or EU-generated turnover above €150M with an EU branch/subsidiary — triggers CSRD third-country rules and CSDDD)
  • Listing status (drives SEC, UK, and ISSB-adopting jurisdictions)
  • Size class against EU large-undertaking thresholds (≥2 of: >250 employees, >€50M turnover, >€25M balance sheet)

Step 2: Run Each Regulation Through an Applicability Test

For every regulation below, state Applies / Likely Applies / Monitor / Does Not Apply with the specific reasoning tied to the company profile.

CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive)

  • Applies to EU large undertakings, EU-listed SMEs, and non-EU parents with >€150M net EU turnover plus a qualifying EU branch/subsidiary
  • Reports against ESRS; requires double materiality assessment and limited assurance
  • Phase-in: large PIEs already in scope (FY2024 reports), other large undertakings FY2025, listed SMEs FY2026, third-country groups FY2028 — note the Omnibus simplification proposals may shift thresholds and timing; flag this explicitly

EU Taxonomy Regulation

  • Applies to entities in CSRD scope; requires disclosure of Taxonomy-eligible and Taxonomy-aligned turnover, CapEx, and OpEx against six environmental objectives
  • Assess sector exposure to the substantial-contribution and DNSH criteria

SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation)

  • Applies only to financial market participants and financial advisers; classify products against Article 6 / 8 / 9
  • If not a financial entity, mark Does Not Apply but flag downstream SFDR data requests from investors

CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive)

  • Applies to large EU companies and non-EU companies above the EU turnover threshold; mandates human-rights and environmental due diligence across the chain of activities and a climate transition plan
  • Note transposition is staggered by Member State and subject to ongoing Omnibus revision

SEC Climate Disclosure Rules (US)

  • Applies to SEC registrants; note current litigation/stay status and treat as Monitor unless the company is a US filer actively preparing
  • Where applicable, scope Scope 1/2 disclosure, financial-statement climate effects, and governance disclosure

ISSB — IFRS S1 & S2

  • Baseline global standard; applies where the home or listing jurisdiction has adopted ISSB (e.g., UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Brazil moving to adopt)
  • Map which of the company's jurisdictions have adopted, are consulting, or have endorsed; S2 builds on TCFD's four pillars

TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures)

  • Now consolidated into ISSB but still referenced in UK mandatory climate disclosures and many voluntary frameworks; treat as the underlying architecture for S2

Regional Equivalents

  • UK: SDR and investment labels, mandatory TCFD-aligned reporting for large companies/LLPs
  • US (state): California SB 253 / SB 261 (Scope 1-3 GHG and climate-risk reporting for companies doing business in CA above revenue thresholds)
  • Other: China, Japan, Singapore, Canada, Australia sustainability reporting regimes as relevant to footprint

Step 3: Build the Phased Timeline

Produce a chronological table of binding dates for every regulation marked Applies or Likely Applies — first reporting period, first report due, and any phase-in step-ups (e.g., assurance moving from limited to reasonable, Scope 3 onset).

Step 4: Identify Overlaps and Single Sources of Truth

Map where requirements converge so the company collects each data point once:

  • Climate metrics feeding CSRD/ESRS E1, ISSB S2, TCFD, and CA SB 253 simultaneously
  • Governance and transition-plan disclosure shared across CSDDD, CSRD, and S2
  • Recommend the broadest applicable framework (usually ESRS or ISSB) as the master data architecture

Step 5: Prioritize the Compliance Roadmap

Rank actions by deadline proximity and effort:

  1. Confirm the earliest binding first-reporting period and work backward to data-readiness milestones
  2. Commission or update the double materiality assessment (CSRD) or materiality screen (ISSB) first — it scopes everything else
  3. Establish GHG inventory boundaries (Scope 1-3) early, since it is the longest lead-time item
  4. Sequence assurance-readiness work against the limited-assurance requirement
  5. Flag governance decisions requiring board sign-off (transition plan, targets)

Output Format

  • Structure: Applicability profile → regulation-by-regulation applicability table → phased timeline table → overlap map → prioritized roadmap
  • Length: 1,100–1,500 words
  • Format: Structured document with two tables (applicability and timeline) and ranked lists; concise reasoning prose under each regulation
  • Sections: Applicability Profile, Regulatory Applicability Assessment, Compliance Timeline, Overlap & Data Strategy, Prioritized Roadmap, Open Risks & Watch Items
  • Tone: General counsel meets sustainability director — precise, citation-aware, decisive about applicability, candid about regulatory flux

Quality Checklist

Before delivering output, verify:

  • [ ] Every regulation listed in Step 2 receives an explicit Applies / Likely Applies / Monitor / Does Not Apply verdict with profile-specific reasoning
  • [ ] EU threshold determinations cite the company's actual size figures, not generic statements
  • [ ] The timeline table lists concrete first-reporting periods and report-due dates for all in-scope regulations
  • [ ] Omnibus / SEC litigation uncertainty is flagged wherever it affects timing — not stated as settled
  • [ ] The roadmap is ordered by binding-deadline proximity and lead time, not regulation name
  • [ ] Overlap map identifies at least the shared climate and governance data points across frameworks

Notes

  • ESG regulation is actively shifting; the EU Omnibus package and SEC rule litigation can move thresholds and dates — always frame the most volatile items as Watch Items rather than fixed law, and advise confirming current status before binding commitments.
  • The single highest-leverage early action for most companies is the materiality assessment plus a Scope 1-3 GHG inventory — both have long lead times and scope nearly every downstream requirement.
  • When a non-EU company has meaningful EU revenue, the third-country CSRD and CSDDD pathways are the most commonly overlooked exposures — test for them deliberately even when the parent is outside the EU.

How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.

Installing in Claude Code:

  • ~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)
  • <your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)

Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.

Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:

  1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
  2. Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits

For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills