EU: Revised ESRS presented by EFRAG has succeeded in simplifying the EU sustainability reporting standards into still effective framework for EU’s climate goals, says Frank Bold
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"Our take on EFRAG’s proposals for simplified EU Sustainability Reporting Standards", 31 July 2025
Following the request of Commissioner Albuquerque, and after intense months of work from experts in the business, investor and audit community, as well national standard setters and civil society experts engaged officially in EFRAG, the revised ESRS are now publicly available and open for consultation until the end of September.
Although the number of datapoints has been drastically reduced, the standards maintain the core integrity necessary to fulfil CSRD obligations and uphold the EU’s climate neutrality objective for 2050 and other EU goals such as in the Clean Industrial Deal.
However, rollbacks of the legislation (as part of the Omnibus negotiations) or further cuts in the standards would seriously undermine the EU's credibility and risk compromising these foundational goals.
The simplification has primarily targeted unclear or duplicative requirements whilst retaining core disclosures
- Climate transition plans aligned with EU legislation
- Environmental metrics which broadly reflect the core global disclosure indicators of the TNFD (although they are generally less granular and stop short of prescribing specific measurement methodologies)
- Own workforce indicators aligned with EU and international law, albeit more limited in scope than those found in the GRI Standards
- Sustainability diligence aligned with UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and OECD Guidelines
The simplifications are substantial but targeted [...]
But the simplification has also removed guidance and important sustainability information [...]
New significant reliefs were introduced, which rely on the expectation that they will not be misused. Excessive use of these reliefs would significantly undermine comparability and relevance of sustainability disclosures...
Conclusion: the revised ESRS reflect the maximum simplification achievable
Any further simplification or cuts to the standards risks compromising Europe’s green transition climate goals...
Overall, the revised ESRS presented by EFRAG on Wednesday has succeeded in simplifying the EU sustainability reporting standards into a manageable but still effective framework for the EU’s climate goals.