On July 3, 2026, the European Commission adopted revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards and a voluntary reporting standard for smaller companies. The package is part of the EU’s Omnibus I simplification work.
The Commission says the revised ESRS reduce mandatory datapoints by more than 60 percent and total datapoints by more than 70 percent. That is a significant reduction in reporting volume—but it does not turn sustainability reporting into a simple form-filling exercise.
The standards are adopted, but the process is not finished
The delegated acts have been transmitted to the European Parliament and the Council for a scrutiny period of two months, which can be extended by another two months. The Commission states that the measures apply after the scrutiny period is complete.
Reporting teams should distinguish the adopted text from measures already in force and monitor the Commission’s CSRD implementing and delegated acts page for status changes.
What the Commission says has changed
According to the July 3 announcement, the revised standards are shorter and clearer, add flexibilities, streamline key processes, and substantially reduce datapoints.
The package also includes a voluntary standard for smaller companies outside CSRD scope. It is intended to provide a proportionate reference for responding to sustainability information requests from larger businesses and financial institutions.
A value-chain cap is designed to prevent companies subject to CSRD from requesting more information from protected value-chain companies than the voluntary standard covers.
What has not become optional
Fewer datapoints do not eliminate the need for governed source information. Companies still need to determine applicability, perform the required materiality work, establish reporting boundaries, apply methodologies consistently, retain evidence, and support review or assurance.
The hard parts remain cross-functional:
- Connecting sustainability impacts, risks, and opportunities to business facts.
- Maintaining complete entity and value-chain populations.
- Calculating greenhouse gas emissions with controlled inputs and factors.
- Documenting estimates, judgements, omissions, and changes.
- Linking reported information to governance and financial decision-making.
A controlled way to transition
Do not delete old data fields immediately. Create a crosswalk between the previous ESRS structure, revised ESRS, voluntary standard, and any other framework the company uses.
For each disclosure, classify it as retained, changed, removed, voluntary, or pending legal assessment. Record the reason and source. Then update data requests, calculations, control documentation, and assurance evidence in a coordinated release.
This prevents three problems: losing comparative information, breaking controls that still reference old fields, and assuming a removed mandatory datapoint has no management or stakeholder value.
Reassess value-chain requests
Companies requesting sustainability information from suppliers should review whether each field remains permitted, necessary, and proportionate. Consolidate duplicate questionnaires and explain the purpose, definition, period, and evidence expected.
Smaller companies can use the voluntary standard as a stable data architecture rather than responding to every customer in a different format. A reusable, governed dataset reduces effort only when definitions and evidence remain consistent.
What to do next
- Confirm whether and when each group entity is in scope.
- Monitor completion of the EU scrutiny process and national implementation.
- Build a requirements crosswalk before changing systems.
- Re-run materiality and gap assessments using the applicable final text.
- Update supplier requests in line with the value-chain cap.
- Test revised calculations, controls, and evidence before reporting.
Simplification should reduce unnecessary reporting work. The opportunity is to spend that saved effort on data quality, decision-useful analysis, and stronger controls.
This article reflects information available on July 8, 2026 and provides general information, not legal advice.
Sources
See how Carbon Impact supports CSRD reporting — from data collection to disclosure.