EU Commission Publishes Revised ESRS Draft - Feedback Possible Until June 3

The European Commission published on May 6, 2026 its revised version of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) as a draft based on EFRAG's proposal from December 2025. The new draft aims to grant companies additional flexibility in implementation without lowering regulatory standards. Of particular note is that the EU is increasingly responding to feedback from the business community and taking practical implementation challenges into account.

Most of the proposed changes from EFRAG's draft ESRS have been retained in the EU Commission's proposal. There are only minor adjustments.

Key Changes in the Proposal at a Glance

1. Double Materiality Assessment (DMA): Top-Down Approach Preferred

The EU explicitly recommends the top-down approach for double materiality analysis as it is more efficient and works with available data. Companies can, if necessary, make supplementary company-specific disclosures to ensure fair presentation.

2. GHG Accounting Boundary: Methodological Flexibility

In contrast to the EFRAG draft, which favored the "financial control approach," companies should now have the option to choose between the three recognized methods: financial control, equity share, or operative control. This methodological flexibility accommodates the complexity of modern corporate structures and takes into account particularities in shareholding relationships and supply chains.

3. Policies, Actions & Targets (PAT): More Efficient Bundling

The revision emphasizes the possibility of describing a single PAT covering multiple material topics only once and then referencing it. This reduces administrative burden and promotes integrated sustainability strategies.

4. Estimates: Greater Tolerance for Financial Effects

The revised draft acknowledges that estimates are legitimate for financial impacts, particularly when better data is not available. Importantly: subsequent adjustments due to improved data availability do not constitute error corrections of prior reporting periods, but rather represent the normal process of data improvement.

5. Microplastics: Simplified Reporting for Secondary Microplastics

The reporting requirement for secondary microplastics is eliminated, while primary microplastics remain relevant. This simplification acknowledges the practical limitations of data collection in globally complex supply chains.

6. SVHC (Substances of Very High Concern): One-Year Transition Period for Users

Companies that process or use products containing substances of very high concern (SVHC) – without manufacturing them themselves – receive a one-year transition period for corresponding data collection. This particularly relieves processors and system integrators in technically complex value chains.

7. Worker metrics: The biggest changes

The Own Workforce chapter experiences the most substantial content changes in data points. Particularly noteworthy are transition relief measures for selected S1 data points that ease the data collection burden on companies.

Feedback Until June 3: Industry Must Act

Companies and stakeholders can submit their comments until June 3, 2026 via the EU Commission's "Have Your Say" portal.

Timeline: Final Version Expected Before Year-End‍

• June 3, 2026: Deadline for comments ("Have Your Say")
• Summer 2026: EU revises based on feedback
• By September 18, 2026 at the latest: Final publication targeted
• FY 2026: Optional application
• FY 2027: Mandatory application

How Tanso Supports

Tanso supports sustainability reporting according to ESRS with an audit-compliant, AI-powered platform – including Double Materiality Assessment.

Until the final new ESRS is published, you can already prepare a sample report based on EFRAG's draft ESRS from December 2025. This version is integrated as a filter function in our software and contains detailed descriptions of changes compared to the old ESRS. This allows you to already build the necessary data collection processes with a reduced and adapted reporting scope without waiting for the final version. Once the final version including the data point list is published, we will integrate it into Tanso.