EFRAG to halve EU reporting standards as Commission considers request for delay

Patrick de Cambourg says summer consultation is ‘not ideal’ as Philips’ sustainability director insists new ESRS will make life easier for companies

EFRAG plans to cut more than 50% of data points under the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and wants to delay their relaunch. 

Speaking at a meeting today, Patrick de Cambourg, who chairs the body in charge of simplifying the ESRS, said the European Commission is currently considering a request to delay the publication of the new standards. 

He said the EU’s financial services commissioner, Maria Luís Albuquerque, told him on Monday that “she would consider if she would be able to give additional time”. 

EFRAG will present its current progress to Albuquerque on Friday.

To meet its current deadline of October 31st, it will launch a 45-day consultation on its draft revisions over the summer – something Cambourg described as “too short and not in the ideal period”.  

The consultation is likely to start late next month.

“[W]e are indicating that we are willing to extend the duration of the consultation, should the Commission be willing to consider modifying the deadline set to October 31st,” he said. 

EFRAG stated in the progress report that a  “longer timeline could contribute to a more secure management of quality”. 

Wim Bartels, who is a member of EFRAG and a partner at Deloitte, shared details on the work being done to improve the ESRS’ approach to double materiality assessments (DMA), which he said has been identified as a problematic area for companies.  

The group is considering a more “top-down approach”, whereby companies can use their business models as the starting point to identify material topics, rather than working from individual impacts upwards.  

One area of contention within EFRAG is around whether to align with the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) definition of “fair presentation”. 

“That is something many know is a key concept in other reporting frameworks, and we want specifically to align with ISSB, so we have used that as a working assumption at the moment […] But we have to further discuss that between us, because some of our members have expressed their reservations,” he said. 

Today’s progress report was unanimously approved by EFRAG’s sustainability reporting board, with one member, Simon Braaksma, praising the work. 

The sustainability director at Dutch firm Philips said: “What I have seen wearing my preparer hat is going to really mean a significant simplification of what we have been doing as a Wave One reporter”.