The European Commission wants to ‘streamline’ two of its flagship sustainability reporting mandates, under ‘Omnibus’ proposals that will impact how tens of thousands of businesses prepare.

The Omnibus proposals were released on 26 February 2025 following months of speculation and a string of much-criticised closed-door meetings. They are part of the EU’s plan to reduce reporting obligations by 25% for large private firms and 35% for SMEs.

One of the most significant changes in the Omnibus package is the reduction of the CSRD’s scope. Should the EU’s package pass Parliamentary votes, round 80% of companies originally set to be subject to mandatory CSRD requirements will be exempt. The Commission wants to shift the focus to the largest companies only.

The package also delays reporting requirements for companies that were set to comply in 2026 or 2027, pushing the deadline back to 2028.

As mentioned, this survey ran prior to and during the Omnibus reveal so findings may not accurately represent attitudes towards CSRD following the changes in the EU.

A little under half (44%) of respondents fall under the remit of CSRD and as such were working on compliance. The survey found that only 23% had completed their first CSRD reporting requirements, while 72% were in the midst of it. A further 5% were yet to start at all, likely because they fell into one of the later waves when it comes to reporting deadlines.

There’s still been plenty of reporting and disclosure requests for companies that aren’t focusing on CSRD compliance.

Research from KPMG has found that nearly all of the world’s largest companies are now reporting on sustainability. They are doing so by reporting on material topics in line with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which requires large businesses to enhance their environmental disclosures by embedding them in annual reports from 2024. These Standards will then be mandated for medium-sized businesses in phases through to 2026.

There’s also continued growth in the adoption of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, which aim to increase climate-related engagement between investors and the companies they invest in.

Nearly three-quarters of G250 companies now disclose climate-related risks in line with TCFD guidelines, due to increasing pressure from investors, regulators and consumers to address climate risks. Mirroring the format of the TCFD is the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), which focuses on nature.

It is easy to see why reporting and disclosure was listed as a business-critical priority by 22% of companies, and a high priority by 48%. Indeed, it is the highest ranking priority in terms of in-house sustainability actions listed by respondents, followed by workplace inclusivity – listed as some sort of priority by 60%. Industry collaboration, new technologies and innovation, and developing a Climate Transition Plan, were all cited as priorities by more than half (50%+) of respondents.

In terms of the frameworks that businesses are focusing on, there is a relatively even split. CSRD was listed as “business critical” by 9% of respondents, followed by TCFD (6%) and Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) at 4%. CSRD was listed by 27% as having some level of high priority or above, second only to TCFD alignment (28%).