The European Commission has adopted revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards and a new voluntary sustainability reporting standard for smaller companies.
The European Sustainability Reporting Standards — known as ESRS — set out what information companies should publish about environmental, social and governance issues such as climate change, biodiversity and human rights.
The Commission said in a statement on Firday that the changes were intended to cut administrative work for businesses while keeping disclosures “high-quality”, and form part of its Omnibus I simplification package for sustainability reporting.
It added the revised ESRS are shorter and clearer, add new flexibilities and streamline processes.
Mandatory datapoints have been reduced by more than 60% and the total number of datapoints by more than 70%.
Reporting costs are expected to fall by more than 30% per company, in line with its target of cutting burdens linked to reporting requirements by 25%.
Voluntary standard for smaller companies
A separate voluntary standard will provide a single reference framework for sustainability reporting by smaller companies that are not covered by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the Commission said.
The EU executive pointed out that the voluntary standard is intended to help those firms respond to sustainability information requests from large financial institutions and companies.
It also introduces a “value chain cap”, meaning companies covered by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive cannot demand more sustainability information from businesses in their supply chains than the voluntary standard requires.
The Commission said the revised standards take account of technical advice from EFRAG — formerly the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group — which drew on stakeholder input gathered in spring 2025 and a public consultation held in summer 2025.
The delegated act revising the ESRS and the delegated act establishing the voluntary standard will now be sent to the European Parliament and the Council of the EU for scrutiny, with a two-month period that can be extended by a further two months.
