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E3-3 – Targets related to water and marine resources

🗂️ ESRS E3 Water and Marine Resources, page 5-6

  1. The undertaking shall disclose the water and marine resources-related targets it has set.

  2. The objective of this Disclosure Requirement is to enable an understanding of the targets the undertaking has adopted to support its water and marine resources-related policies and address its material water and marine resources-related impacts, risks and opportunities.

  3. The description of the targets shall contain the information requirements defined in ESRS 2 MDR-T Tracking effectiveness of policies and actions through targets.

  4. The disclosure required by paragraph 20 shall indicate whether and how its targets relate to:

(a) the management of material impacts, risks and opportunities related to areas at water risk, including improvement of the water quality;

(b) the responsible management of marine resources impacts, risks and opportunities including the nature and quantity of marine resources-related commodities (such as gravels, deep-sea minerals, seafood) used by the undertaking; and

(c) the reduction of water consumption, including an explanation of how those targets relate to areas at water risk, including areas of high water-stress.

  1. In addition to ESRS 2 MDR-T, the undertaking may specify whether ecological thresholds and entity-specific allocations were taken into consideration when setting targets. If so, the undertaking may specify:

(a) the ecological thresholds identified, and the methodology used to identify such thresholds;

(b) whether or not the thresholds are entity-specific and if so, how they were determined; and

(c) how responsibility for respecting identified ecological thresholds is allocated in the undertaking.

  1. The undertaking shall specify as part of the contextual information, whether the targets it has set and presented are mandatory (required by legislation) or voluntary.

Application Requirements

Section titled “Application Requirements”

AR 22. If the undertaking refers to ecological thresholds when setting targets, it may refer to the guidance provided by the Science-Based Targets Initiative for Nature (SBTN) in its interim guidance (Initial Guidance for Business, September 2020). It may also refer to any other guidance with a scientifically acknowledged methodology that enables the setting of sciencebased targets by identifying ecological thresholds and, if applicable, organisationspecific allocations. Ecological thresholds can be local, national and/or global.

AR 23. The undertaking may provide targets relating to: (a) the reduction of water withdrawals; and (b) the reduction of water discharges.

AR 24. If the undertaking provides targets on withdrawals, it may include water withdrawal from polluted soils and aquifers, and water withdrawn and treated for remediation purposes.

AR 25. If the undertaking provides targets on discharges, it may include water discharges to groundwater such as reinjection to aquifers, or water returning to a groundwater source via a soakaway or a swale.

AR 26. The targets may cover its own operations and/or its upstream and downstream value chain.

AR 27. The undertaking may specify whether the target addresses shortcomings related to the Substantial Contribution criteria for Water and Marine Resources as defined in the Commission delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 12(2) of Regulation (EU) 2020/852. Where the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) criteria for Water and Marine Resources as defined in delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 10(3), Article 11(3), Article 13(2), Article 14(2), and Article 15(2) of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 are not met, the undertaking may specify whether the target addresses shortcomings related those DNSH criteria.