Travers Smith's Sustainability Insights: Reporting requirements still shifting

European sustainability reporting requirements are still in a state of flux.  Several years and several laws later, many companies and investors are getting on with reporting the information their stakeholders demand. But compliance teams are still not sure what regulatory requirements they should be preparing for. 

To be fair, some things are getting clearer.  Earlier this year, the EU signed off its sustainability "omnibus" – a dramatic rollback of non-financial reporting requirements.  Many European private companies can now calculate whether they will be out of scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) – and many will be.  But for those who remain in scope, the actual reporting standards are not yet finalised.  A significant redraft of those standards – known as the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) – is still in process, with near-final versions expected imminently.