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Writer's pictureJana Trapāne

Characteristics and features of an ESG risk

This post discusses ESG Risk Attributes. Risk attributes are the characteristics and features of a risk that enhance our understanding of it. These attributes include factors that contribute to the overall level of risk associated with an event or a specific situation.


To gather a comprehensive collection of risk attributes, it is essential to establish a context—here, the context is ESG. By examining the content of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), you will discover that defining ESG risks involves more than just a title, general description, and assessment. We have collected a rich array of attributes required by ESRS and are excited to share them with you, dear reader.



The List of ESG Risk Attributes:


  • General section

    • Reference to sustainability matters (topics, sub-topics, sub-sub-topics)

    • Title

    • Time horizon - short-, medium- and long-term

    • General description

    • Affected Areas:

      • Geographic location or regions that are likely to be affected

      • and factors that increase the vulnerability of the affected area (e.g., lack of infrastructure)

    • Data sources - Sources of information or data used to identify and evaluate the risk

    • Reported by

    • Reported at

    • Updated at

    • Status - New, Pending Review, Under Review, Reviewed, Action Taken.

  • Assessment

    • Likelihood

    • Potential Magnitude in financial effects

  • Compliance (ESRS)

    • General Requirements:

      • Current and anticipated effects on business model, value chain, strategy and decision-making, and how undertaking has responded or plans to respond to these effects

      • Information about resilience of strategy and business model regarding capacity to address the risk

      • Changes to compared to previous reporting period

      • Covered by entity-specific disclosures - Yes/No

    • Environment Requirements:

      • Type of climate-related risk - Physical or Transition risk

      • Adaptation Measures

      • Identified within a scenario analysis - reference to a specific scenario, e.g. "NGFS Climate : Net Zero 2050"

      • Scenario analysis description

    • Social Requirements:

      • Number of people or description of the population segments at risk

      • Relationship between the risk and strategy and business model

      • The risk relates to specific social groups

  • Financial

    • Current financial effects - Financial effects on the undertaking’s financial position, financial performance and cash flows if there is a significant risk of a material adjustment within the next annual reporting period to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities reported in the related financial statements;

    • Anticipated financial effects - Financial effects on the undertaking’s financial position, financial performance and cash flows over the short-, medium- and long-term.

      • Time Horizon

      • Anticipated financial effect (monetary amount)

    • Description

  • Value-Chain

    • Originating in value chain - Yes/No

    • Value chain actors:

      • Upstream, Downstream

      • Value Chain Stage

      • Description of Geographical Areas, Inputs, Outputs, Estimation Methods and other information

  • Mitigation (❤️)

    • Mitigation Measures

    • Response Strategy

    • Monitoring Indicators


If you have suggestions or recommendations on what might be missing from the list, let's collaborate: share your ideas, and in return, we'll thank you with a special gift from Mitigate 🎁





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