The European Commission has adopted the revised ESRS and the new Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard as part of the EU Omnibus simplification package. The reforms substantially reduce sustainability reporting requirements under the CSRD while introducing a proportionate voluntary framework for companies outside its scope. Together, these measures lower reporting costs, improve interoperability and establish a more streamlined ESG reporting framework across the European Union.
The European Commission has adopted the revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) together with the new Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard (VS), marking a major milestone in the implementation of the EU Omnibus simplification package. The delegated acts build on EFRAG’s technical advice and represent the most significant update to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) framework since the ESRS were first adopted.
The revised ESRS are a cornerstone of the EU Omnibus initiative, which aims to reduce administrative burden while maintaining high-quality sustainability reporting. Following extensive technical work by EFRAG, the revised standards significantly simplify reporting requirements by reducing mandatory disclosure datapoints by more than 60% and cutting the overall number of disclosure datapoints by over 70%. The revisions also introduce greater proportionality, simplified materiality assessments, more flexible value chain reporting, and enhanced interoperability with the ISSB standards, enabling companies to produce more focused and decision-useful sustainability disclosures.
Alongside the revised ESRS, the European Commission has adopted the new Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard (VS) for companies outside the scope of the CSRD. The VS provides a simplified reporting framework that enables SMEs and other non-listed businesses to respond to sustainability information requests from investors, banks and large customers without being subject to the full ESRS requirements. A key feature is the introduction of the value chain cap, which limits the sustainability information that CSRD-reporting companies can request from businesses using the voluntary standard, helping reduce reporting burdens across European supply chains.
Together, the revised ESRS and the Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard form a central pillar of the EU Omnibus simplification agenda. The package seeks to improve the competitiveness of European businesses by lowering compliance costs while preserving the transparency and comparability needed by investors and other stakeholders. Companies preparing for future CSRD reporting should review the revised ESRS, assess opportunities to simplify their reporting processes, and determine whether early adoption would support a more efficient transition to the new framework.
The delegated acts have now been submitted to the European Parliament and the Council for scrutiny before entering into force. Once applicable, the revised ESRS and the Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard are expected to reshape sustainability reporting across Europe by providing a more proportionate, streamlined and interoperable ESG reporting framework.
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