Reducing Data Points in European Sustainability Reporting Guidelines by a Minimum of Half, Proposed by EFRAG
The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has made significant strides in its mission to streamline the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). On 20 June 2025, EFRAG delivered a progress report to the European Commission, detailing efforts to reduce the reporting burden for companies while maintaining the integrity of sustainability disclosures.
EFRAG aims to reduce the number of mandatory datapoints for sustainability reporting by more than 50% through proposed changes. This reduction is achieved through five key levers, including a shift from a bottom-up, checklist-based approach to a top-down, business-model-driven materiality assessment that focuses reporting on what is truly relevant to each company.
The first draft of the amended ESRS is expected by the end of June 2025, with a discussion at the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board (SRB) meeting in early July. The final draft is projected to be released for public consultation at the end of July 2025, with a consultation period now extended to 60 days, running until the end of September. EFRAG’s revised technical advice is now due to the Commission by 30 November 2025, slightly later than the original October deadline.
EFRAG has identified several priority areas for streamlining the ESRS. Companies will report only on topics and sub-topics that are materially relevant to their business, rather than following a comprehensive, prescriptive checklist. A new "information materiality" filter will allow companies to skip immaterial datapoints across all standards, including the general requirements (ESRS 2).
The standards will emphasize principles over rigid checklists, aiming for clearer, more accessible, and less voluminous reports. Companies will be permitted to include an executive summary at the start of their sustainability statement, highlighting material topics, key metrics, strategy, and future outlook in a concise format for stakeholders.
The revised standards will clearly distinguish between mandatory and voluntary datapoints to avoid over-reporting and ensure meaningful, decision-useful disclosures. EFRAG plans to publish non-binding examples illustrating how disclosures should be tied to material sub-topics, further reducing unnecessary reporting.
There is a focus on ensuring the ESRS remain interoperable with international sustainability standards, reflecting global best practices. The boundaries for value chain disclosures will be clarified, helping companies understand what must be reported regarding their upstream and downstream impacts.
New relief measures will be introduced to accommodate smaller and less complex entities, reducing the burden without sacrificing transparency. Companies will have more flexibility in structuring their sustainability statements, allowing reports to be tailored to their specific context and material issues.
EFRAG’s ongoing work aims to make sustainability reporting under the CSRD both less burdensome and more meaningful by focusing on materiality, clarity, and practicality. The reduction of datapoints is not just about cutting numbers, but about ensuring that reported information is truly relevant and useful for investors and other stakeholders. The extended public consultation period and outreach events in late 2025 will allow for broad stakeholder feedback before the final standards are adopted, likely via delegated act in 2026.
- EFRAG's proposed changes in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive aim to reduce the number of mandatory datapoints for sustainability reporting by over 50%, focusing on materiality, clarity, and practicality.
- The revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards will emphasize principles over rigid checklists, allowing companies to report on topics that are truly relevant to their business, and to include an executive summary in a concise format for stakeholders.
