EFRAG has submitted its technical advice to the European Commission on the draft simplified European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), signalling a major step in the EU’s 2025 Omnibus initiative to reduce reporting burdens while maintaining the ambitions of the Green Deal. The draft package aims to ease compliance demands on companies without undermining the EU’s broader sustainability objectives.
The revised standards build on insights from the first wave of reporters in 2024 and feedback from more than 700 consultation respondents. EFRAG’s draft introduces extensive simplifications, including a 61% reduction in mandatory datapoints, substantial flexibility, and a phased approach to difficult disclosures.
Central to the overhaul is a streamlined materiality assessment intended to cut administrative effort and help companies focus on providing information that genuinely matters to investors and other users. Proportionality mechanisms have been embedded throughout, while value chain reporting has been eased through the removal of any preference for direct data, allowing greater use of estimates.
The simplified ESRS also adopt a more principles-based approach for narrative disclosures, offering companies greater freedom in how they present policies, actions and targets. EFRAG says the standards are now shorter, clearer and easier to apply, supporting more coherent sustainability communication beyond mere compliance.
The draft package also enhances alignment with the ISSB Standards, preserving common disclosures where possible and revising the greenhouse-gas boundary to improve clarity. However, EFRAG cautioned that some reliefs go beyond those permitted under the ISSB framework, meaning companies seeking dual compliance must tread carefully.
The European Commission will now prepare a Delegated Act to revise the existing ESRS on the basis of EFRAG’s advice. EFRAG plans to support implementation through guidance, Q&A clarifications and training materials, including a new ESRS Knowledge Hub set to launch on 4 December 2025.
EFRAG SR TEG Chair Chiara Del Prete said the delivery of the amended standards completed the organisation’s mandate under a demanding deadline. She emphasised that the reforms reflect extensive dialogue with companies, auditors and users: “The standards are now ready for the next steps, their adoption. EFRAG will continue to support the European Commission, preparers, users and stakeholders in general in their implementation.”
EFRAG SRB Chair Patrick de Cambourg said the simplification strikes a vital balance between competitiveness and ambition: “It reduces unnecessary burden while preserving the EU’s leadership in sustainable finance and its commitment to the Green Deal. The Simplified ESRS provide a clearer, more proportionate framework that strengthens trust, transparency and our collective ability to address long-term sustainability challenges.”
