EU Commission publishes revised ESRS: around 60% fewer datapoints

The EU Commission published the revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) on Friday, July 3, 2026, shortly before the summer break. The planned reduction in datapoints is around 60 percent compared to the previous ESRS.

Background: An over year long revision process

The new ESRS are the result of a multi stage process. EFRAG first published a draft in November 2025 based on a public consultation. The EU Commission then made minor adjustments to this draft and put it out for public consultation again in May 2026. The final version now published is based on the feedback received from that consultation. Initial assessment suggests the adjustments compared to the original EFRAG draft are marginal.

Around 60% fewer datapoints

The cuts affect the individual ESRS standards to varying degrees. ESRS 2, E1 (climate change), and S1 (own workforce) had, and still have, particularly high numbers of datapoints, and this is also where the planned reduction (category "removed") is largest. This is based on a comparison of the previous ESRS with the EFRAG draft from November 2025.

The most important content changes

1. Double materiality assessment: recommendation of a top down approach; clarification that not every information request from individual stakeholders needs to be taken into account.
2. Exclusion of information: more options to exclude disclosures, for example due to national laws, provided the reason is made transparent and re-evaluated annually.
3. GHG emissions: companies can freely choose between the financial control and operational control approach.
4. Expected financial effects: since these are based on assumptions and estimates, future adjustments do not need to be reported as errors.
5. Climate transition plans: clarification that transition plans not aligned with 1.5 degrees are also CSRD compliant, as long as this is made transparent.
6. Microplastics: no more disclosure requirement for secondary microplastics that arise unintentionally during a product's degradation, due to the difficulty of data collection.
7. Substances of particular concern: new one year transition period for companies that do not produce these substances themselves but merely use them.

Transitional arrangement for financial year 2026

For financial year 2026, companies subject to CSRD can choose to report under the old or the new ESRS. From financial year 2027 onward, the new ESRS apply mandatorily.

Next steps

The European Parliament and the Council of the EU now have two months to raise an objection. Since this is considered unlikely, entry into force is expected in September 2026. Still outstanding are the final publication in the Official Journal of the EU and an official revision of the EFRAG datapoint list (Implementation Guidance 3), which forms the basis for a structured datapoint list.

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