On Friday 11 July, the European Commission presented a targeted amendment to postpone the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) by one year, as part of the ‘Stop -the-clock’ directive, which is part of the ‘Omnibus I’ package (see EUROPE 13621/30).
Under current legislation, companies reporting for the 2024 financial year may exclude information on, among other things, the expected financial impact of certain sustainability risks. The proposed amendment, which applies from the 2025 financial year, will allow them to exclude this same information for the 2025 and 2026 financial years.
This means that the companies concerned, i.e. those with more than 750 employees, will not have to provide any additional information in relation to the 2024 financial year. In addition, for the 2025 and 2026 financial years, they will benefit from most of the same phasing-in provisions that currently apply to companies with up to 750 employees.
These transitional provisions concern ESRS standards E4 and S2 to S4, which relate to: - biodiversity and ecosystems; - workers in the value chain; - affected communities; - consumers and end-users.
At the same time, the Commission is working on a wider revision of the ESRS, with the aim of significantly reducing the number of data requirements, clarifying provisions deemed unclear and improving consistency with other legislation. This review should be completed by the 2027 financial year.
Read the delegated act: https://aeur.eu/f/huv
Read the appendix: https://aeur.eu/f/hux (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)