Back in October, we blogged about the proposed delay to the EU’s ESRS sector-specific and non-EU company standards. The European Commission felt that these standards should be delayed for two years until June 2026 in order to allow companies time to adjust to the current ESRS and CSRD reporting on the whole. This plan has now been approved by MEPs with a caveat: while EFRAG has until June 2026, EU Parliament wants the sector-specific standards as soon as they are ready along with regular updates. Parliament’s press release states that:
“MEPs believe that sector-specific sustainability standards enable comparisons between companies and are therefore valuable source of information for investors.
That is why although they agree with the delay, they also suggest that the Commission publishes eight sector-specific reporting standards as soon as they are ready before the deadline. They also want to improve the transparency and flexibility of the process and request the Commission to consult the Parliament on the progress with development of the sustainability reporting standards at least once a year and on related planning, prioritisation and timeline adopted in this context by the responsible institution – European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG)”
The legislation delaying these ESRS is likely to pass and will soon enter the negotiation phase. Parliament’s request likely means that we will get some of the sector-specific standards before the 2026 date. How soon EFRAG can develop the initial sector-specific standards is unclear, but we now know that they could arrive anytime between now and June 2026.
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Photo credit: Ajdin Kamber – stock.adobe.com
