Highlights
As part of the European Commission (EC) Omnibus initiative, EFRAG1 has issued proposed revisions to European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) for public comment. The aim of these revisions is to strike the right balance between stakeholder needs and the costs to preparers while maintaining the spirit of the EU Green Deal.
What are the proposed changes?
EFRAG has identified six key levers2 to simplify ESRS and proposes significant changes to the standards under each of them.
The levers address many of the challenges highlighted in Real-time ESRS – our analysis of sustainability statements from 270 first-wave companies.
In addition, EFRAG has proposed deleting repetitive and less relevant datapoints.
The table below summarises the key changes proposed for each lever.
What's next?
The public consultation is open for 60 days until 29 September 2025. EFRAG is due to deliver the simplified ESRS to the EC by 30 November 2025. The EC will then follow its own due process, including any further revisions to the standards.
If there are no significant delays, the simplified ESRS are likely to enter into force in late 2026. Until then, companies are required to continue to apply the existing ESRS framework, including the recent quick fix amendments.
The timeline below shows key milestones in the simplification process.
Actions for management
- Understand the proposals and how they affect your company.
- Have your say by 29 September 2025.
- For further information on the proposals, speak to your KPMG contact and visit ESRS Today to keep up to date with the latest news and discussion.
1 European Financial Reporting Advisory Group - the EU’s advisory group on corporate reporting.
2 For further discussion on the levers of ESRS simplification, see EFRAG's summary.
3 Minimum disclosure requirements.
4 These tables summarise the key changes to ESRS Set 1 proposed by EFRAG in its exposure draft published on 31 July 2025. These amendments are not final and may be subject to further change.
5 Principal Adverse Indicators under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/2088).
6 The EC’s aim is to adopt the delegated act in time for companies to apply the revised standards for FY27 (reporting in 2028), with a possible option to apply them for FY26 (reporting in 2027).
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