EFRAG agrees timeline for advising on redesign of EU sustainability standards

Sustainability board approves work plan after rejecting the first version last week

The body advising the European Commission on its sustainability disclosure standards has today signed off on a plan to deliver technical advice on their redesign by the end of October.  

EFRAG has been tasked with helping policymakers simplify the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) as part of the EU Omnibus package, which seeks to make the rules easier for businesses in the region. 

Its sustainability reporting board rejected an initial proposal for the work last week, arguing the plan didn’t provide enough time to collect feedback.  

EFRAG’s secretariat said a conventional 120-day consultation was “not feasible” given “the exceptionally short time to conclude the ESRS simplification process”. The same applied to a 60-day option, it suggested.

Instead, it proposed a 30–40-day consultation beginning in August and/or two weeks of targeted outreach events.   

Following last week’s rejection, EFRAG proposed a 30-45-day consultation starting at the end of July.

In addition, it said it would run around 10 “structured public feedback outreach events” in September, “subject to the availability of the stakeholders’ associations and national standard setters to organise these events”.  

The revised workplan was given the green light today, with just one abstention from board’s vice chair, Kerstin Lopatta. 

Between now and May, EFRAG will focus on establishing “actionable levers” to substantially simplify the ESRS, informed by an ongoing consultation which closed on May 6th.  

EFRAG will also conduct one-to-one interviews over the next month with firms that have already reported against the standards, as well as auditors, business associations and national standard setters. 

It plans to have exposure drafts approved by its sustainability board by the end of July, which will then be put out for public consultation before being finalised and delivered to the Commission by the end of October.