CA25168 - Embedding Sustainability Reporting and Assurance in Accounting and Auditing Education Across Europe (EMBRACE)

This Action builds a trans-European network to embed sustainability reporting and assurance, explicitly aligned with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), into accounting and auditing education. Partners will conduct networked, collaborative research and co-create an ESRS-mapped competence framework, assessment rubrics, teaching cases and datasets, an assurance casebank for sustainability reporting, and educator micro-credentials. Through coordinated pilots across diverse HEIs at BSc, MSc and CPD levels, the Action will strengthen graduate and practitioner readiness, foster ethical and high-quality sustainability reporting and assurance, and accelerate curriculum adoption by universities, professional bodies and regulators. Outputs will be open, reusable learning assets and a durable European community of practice for sustainability reporting and assurance education.

Across Europe, demand for CSRD/ESRS competences exceeds supply: curricula are uneven, sustainability reporting and assurance training is scarce, and ethics/independence/quality-management receive inconsistent coverage, especially in less-resourced contexts.

The Action’s objective is to mainstream ESRS-aligned sustainability reporting and assurance in accounting and auditing education by co-developing, through networked collaborative research, (1) an ESRS-mapped competence framework with an accompanying assessment rubric, (2) an open casebank and datasets dedicated to sustainability reporting and assurance practice, (3) educator upskilling pathways, and (4) clear adoption routes with professional bodies, regulators, and firms, all released under open licences and supported by a post-Action sustainability and maintenance plan.