ESMA supports the simplified European Sustainability Reporting Standards and suggests targeted adjustments
The European Securities and Markets Authority, the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has delivered its opinion on the draft revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) developed by EFRAG. ESMA strongly supports the European Commission’s goal of enhancing competitiveness and growth through simplification and burden reduction. On this basis, ESMA welcomes EFRAG’s proposed changes to the ESRS and finds room for specific modifications.
The draft changes to the ESRS contain a number of improvements in readability, language and format of the standards as well as in the volume of requirements. Additionally, helpful simplifications have been introduced in several areas, promoting reporting which focuses more on material matters. Nevertheless, ESMA finds that the draft revised ESRS partly meet the objective of supporting investor protection and financial stability due to certain technical issues which it recommends the Commission to address.
Verena Ross, Chair, said:
ESMA supports the aim of achieving simplification and burden reduction for issuers and believes EFRAG’s revision of the ESRS is a decisive step in the right direction, even if we see room for some targeted improvements.
In the current Omnibus transition context, and consistent with our previous statements, ESMA and national competent authorities are committed to pragmatic supervision of sustainability reporting. This will reduce unnecessary burden while still ensuring that the right information reaches investors and the wider market.
In the interest of investor protection and financial stability, ESMA advises the Commission to make some adjustments to the revised ESRS, namely:
- introduce time limits to certain permanent reliefs,
- refine requirements on transition plans,
- strengthen reporting on the sustainability competences of administrative, management and supervisory bodies,
- enhance transparency on the financial resources allocated to sustainability actions, and
- adjust the exemption from reporting sustainability risks and opportunities for subsidiaries excluded from consolidated financial statements due to immateriality.
Next steps
The Commission will now consider ESMA’s opinion alongside opinions submitted by the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), the European Central Bank (ECB) and other public bodies, with the aim to adopt the revised ESRS into a delegated act by summer 2026.
The first years of ESRS application will imply a learning curve for all parties, as the sustainability reporting framework undergoes substantive changes. ESMA will work with national competent authorities (NCAs) during this adjustment period to ensure proportionate and realistic supervision of sustainability reporting achieved in a harmonised way. As previously communicated, NCAs have the flexibility to adapt their supervisory approach to the current context, both in terms of the issuers and the disclosure areas they examine. ESMA will support NCAs as they move through this process.
ESMA will also continue contributing to EFRAG’s work on sustainability reporting, including developing guidance, through its observer role in the Technical Experts Group and the Board.
Further information:
Iris Hude
Communications Officer
press@esma.europa.eu