Stockholm (NordSIP) – Following the European Commission’s (EC) decision at the end of 2024 to adopt Omnibus proposals simplifying existing sustainability regulations, the EU executive body now needs to follow the procedural steps to technically adopt these changes. The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), an organisation composed of European stakeholders and national organisations involved in the development of International Financial Reporting Standards and how they contribute to the efficiency of capital markets, is one of the bodies involved in this process.
Following the publication of the Omnibus proposals on 26 February 2025, EFRAG received an specific mandate from the European Commission (EC) to provide technical advice for the adoption of a delegated act to revise and simplify the existing European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). The mandate was received by EFRAG on 27 March 2025 and the technical advice is expected to be delivered to the Commission by 31 October 2025.
To this end, the EFRAG wishes to gather public input from all relevant stakeholders in relation to potential revisions, as well as feedback from the first wave of preparers who implemented the standards in their 2024 sustainability reports. Input is expected on the basis of an online questionnaire.
This public call for input complements a series of interviews and workshops that EFRAG is organising with preparers, auditors and users. It aims to gather informationon the key areas of simplification identified in the Explanatory Memorandum of the Omnibus proposal, including:
- ESRS mandatory datapoints that are least important or problematic for general-purpose sustainability, per each Disclosure Requirement (with separate consideration given to cross-cutting, environment, social and governance matters);
- suggestions on how to modify the ESRS provisions that are deemed unclear;
- suggestions on how to improve consistency with other EU legislation;
- suggestions on how to improve the ESRS provisions on materiality to ensure that undertakings report only material information, do not report unnecessary information and do not dedicate excessive resources to the materiality assessment process;
- suggestions on how to simplify the structure and presentation of the standards;
- suggestions on how to further enhance interoperability with global sustainability reporting standards; and
- any other modifications that could simplify the ESRS without compromising their role in supporting the Green Deal.
