EU drives ‘omnibus’ of simplifications through landmark sustainability reporting directives

The European Commission has adopted proposals for radical simplifications to the EU’s trailblazing environmental regulations. The commissioners argue that this is a pragmatic response to changing global economics and indicates that they have listened to the concerns of smaller businesses that are struggling to comply with onerous and conflicting rules.  

However, the “omnibus” of simplifications is likely to frustrate some companies that already invested heavily in compliance, and created short- and longer-term uncertainty about timing, the enforcement of current requirements, and the future direction of EU sustainability regulations. 

The proposals to simplify environmental rules, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D), were published in late February. The first reports under CSRD are due this year, based on data collected in 2024. Preparing to comply has an initial cost of 287,000 euros (U.S. $312,000) and annual costs of €320,000 (U.S. $348,000) on average, according to software company Position Green, with some of the workload having already been pushed down the supply chain to partners in the form of data requests.