EFRAG calls for input from large firms on voluntary sustainability reporting standards

EU advisor reveals that there will be no public consultation on the voluntary standard before adoption. 

EFRAG wants to hear from large companies about how the EU’s voluntary sustainability reporting standards can be made more suitable for them.   

The advisory body, which helps the European Commission shape its disclosure rules, is adapting a framework designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to fit bigger businesses that have been removed from the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).   

The framework will remain voluntary, but be adjusted to suit large companies with fewer than 1,000 employees or annual turnover below €450m. 

EFRAG has put out a call for eligible firms to help with its development, alongside auditors, investors, trade bodies and lenders.   

Candidates will participate in webinars, surveys and interviews, with the aim of “gathering insights into how sustainability reporting is evolving across Europe and how the forthcoming voluntary standard could be applied in practice”, EFRAG said. 

The European Commission is expected to issue a delegated act on the voluntary standard later this year.  

EFRAG also announced this week that it wouldn’t undertake any public consultations on the new voluntary standard, or the simplified European Sustainability Reporting Standards it has been working on. 

Both will be handed over to the Commission without any more official feedback periods, in a move that has raised some eyebrows. 

Simon Taylor, a senior director at consultancy Position Green, said on LinkedIn that the decision meant “a standard that will apply to at least 20,000 companies with more than 500 employees that have now fallen out of CSRD scope will be developed and adopted with no consultation beyond EFRAG’s limited engagement and research activities”.  

“I genuinely wish EFRAG all the best with this task,” he added.  

Firms have until the 20th of April to register their interest in participating in the process.