CSRD News: What Has Changed and What Comes Next
The CSRD has been rewritten. The Omnibus directive, published in the EU Official Journal on 26 February 2026, narrowed who must report. Revised, shorter reporting standards (ESRS) follow, and they take effect on 10 November 2026. This page sets out what is final, what is still in progress, and how to keep up without drowning in headlines.
Key Takeaways
The Omnibus directive is law. It was adopted by the Council on 24 February 2026 and published in the Official Journal on 26 February 2026.
Revised ESRS cut reporting datapoints by 71% for companies that stay in scope. They apply to financial years starting on or after 1 January 2027, with early application for 2026 permitted.
Scope is now much narrower: the core CSRD population is companies with more than 1,000 employees and turnover above €450 million.
Some items are still moving: the digital taxonomy, the datapoint list and the EU limited assurance standard.
UK readers are affected if they have EU parents, subsidiaries or branches above the new thresholds.
What is final: the Omnibus changes
The CSRD is Directive (EU) 2022/2464. It entered into force on 17 December 2022 and strengthened the reporting rules introduced by the 2014 Non-Financial Reporting Directive. Its aim was comparable, mandatory sustainability reporting across the EU.
The original plan was a phased rollout from 2024 to 2028. That plan has been reshaped. The European Commission proposed simplification on 26 February 2025, a political agreement followed in December 2025, and the Council signed off the final text on 24 February 2026. The Council presents the package as a way to boost EU competitiveness, and it covers due diligence requirements as well as reporting.
PwC’s summary says the directive came into force on 18 March 2026, and that Member States then have 12 months to transpose the CSRD provisions into national law. National rules can therefore differ in detail until transposition is complete, so check your own Member State’s position.
Who is in scope now
The headline change is the threshold. According to FIEC, companies remaining in the CSRD scope are those with more than 1,000 employees and annual turnover above €450 million. Many companies that expected to report from 2026 or 2027 now fall outside the mandatory regime.
For non-EU groups, the Council states that the updated rules apply where the parent has EU net turnover above €450 million and its EU subsidiary or branch has turnover above €200 million. This is the test that matters for UK and African groups with European operations.
For the full breakdown by company type, read our guide to CSRD requirements after Omnibus I.
Timing for the later waves
The Council said the next wave of companies would have until 2028 to comply, and that CSDDD reporting is delayed until 2029. The December 2025 agreement also provided a transition exemption for first-wave companies that started reporting for financial year 2024 but fall out of scope under the new thresholds, as reported by law-firm commentary.
National law adds a layer. France, for example, passed a law on 30 April 2025 that postponed obligations for listed SMEs and large companies by two years, a stop-the-clock measure that came before the final Omnibus. Always check which rules your own country applies.
The revised ESRS: lighter, but still demanding
The European Sustainability Reporting Standards set out what companies disclose. The original ESRS were criticised as long and complex. The revised version is the part of the news cycle most relevant to reporting teams.
According to Accountancy Europe, the revised ESRS and the voluntary reporting standards have been published in the Official Journal. The revised ESRS are expected to enter into effect on 10 November 2026 and to apply to financial years starting on or after 1 January 2027, with early application for 2026 permitted.
FIEC reports that the revised standards cut datapoints by 71% for companies remaining in scope. The topics themselves have not vanished. The Directive’s standards still cover climate change mitigation, greenhouse gas emissions, water and marine resources, resource use and the circular economy, pollution, biodiversity, social and human rights, and governance matters such as ethics, anti-corruption and whistleblower protection.
The Commission’s own page records that on 3 July 2026 it adopted a Delegated Regulation simplifying the standards, alongside a second one setting voluntary standards for companies protected by the value chain cap. For the background on how the standards were built, see our piece on the path towards ESRS adoption.
The value chain cap
This is the change smaller suppliers care about most. FIEC explains that the voluntary standard underpins a cap that protects companies with up to 1,000 employees from information requests by larger business partners that go beyond that standard. It applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027.
In practice, a 400-person supplier to a large manufacturer should be able to point to the voluntary standard as the ceiling on what its customer can ask for. It is worth telling your own customers that now.
What is still in progress
Several technical pieces are unfinished. Each can change the cost of reporting, so they are worth following.
Item | Where it stands | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
Datapoint list | EFRAG has consulted on a draft, with a final list expected by the end of 2026 | Defines exactly what data you collect |
Digital taxonomy (XBRL) | EFRAG has consulted on a draft; tagging is not yet mandatory | Determines your software and data format |
Non-EU standards | EFRAG has consulted on standards for certain non-EU undertakings | Affects UK and African groups with EU turnover |
Limited assurance | CEAOB has given technical advice; the Commission is expected to consult | Sets how your report is checked |
All four rows come from Accountancy Europe’s sustainability update. Consultation windows close within weeks, so use that page and EFRAG’s own site for current deadlines.
On assurance, a Commission-related letter states that the agreed text requires a delegated act on limited assurance standards by 1 July 2027. The same letter says the empowerment for reasonable assurance standards has been removed. Limited assurance is therefore the level to plan for.
What the news means for your organisation
Headlines are cheap. Decisions are not. Here is how the changes translate into action for three common situations.
You are above the new thresholds
You are still in the regime, and the revised ESRS give you a smaller set of data to collect. Use 2026 to run a gap analysis against the new datapoints, map data owners, and decide whether to apply the revised standards early. Early application for 2026 is permitted, which may suit teams that have already built processes around the original standards.
You have dropped out of scope
Mandatory reporting may no longer apply, but customers, banks and investors still ask for sustainability data. The voluntary standard gives you a recognised, bounded format to answer them. Keeping a light version of your existing data collection is usually cheaper than rebuilding later.
You are a supplier or a UK or African company with EU links
Check two things: whether a parent or subsidiary crosses the €450 million and €200 million turnover tests, and whether your customers are in scope and will ask for data. The value chain cap limits the latter for companies with up to 1,000 employees.
Our guide to CSRD reporting: who must report and how to start walks through a first-year plan, and our explainer on the Commission’s FAQs covers the interpretive guidance.
Due diligence moves alongside reporting. If CSDDD affects you, see our note on the CSDDD green signal.
How to get ongoing support from Exereco
Exereco brings news, advisory, training, ESG reporting software and networking events together on one platform, with a focus on European and African organisations. If you want a team to help you map the revised ESRS to your own data, or you want to build reporting into a software workflow, start with our climate action page or the Exereco homepage.
We publish our own analysis too. Our Europe sustainability news roundup tracks the wider policy picture beyond the CSRD.
How to follow CSRD updates without the noise
A good routine beats a pile of subscriptions. Mix a few types of source, each doing a different job.
Primary sources for legal facts. The Official Journal, the Commission’s CSRD page and the Council’s press releases carry the final text. Treat anything else as commentary. The Commission’s CSRD page lists delegated acts as they are adopted and published.
Professional-body updates for technical detail. Accounting and audit bodies publish periodic digests on standards, assurance and consultations. These are the quickest way to learn about a consultation before it closes.
Sustainability news newsletters for context. Daily or weekly briefings from specialist media show how the CSRD fits with other policy and what companies are actually doing. Choose one with a European focus, and read the headline and first paragraph before the commentary.
Advisory-firm briefings for scope questions. Large advisers publish scope tables and decision trees that help you test your own position. Cross-check any figure against the Council or Commission page.
National regulator or ministry pages. Transposition varies by country, so one national source matters as much as any EU feed.
A useful test for any newsletter: does it state the date, the legal status (proposed, agreed, adopted, published, in force) and link to the primary document? If not, it will leave you guessing which of the changes are real.
Reading CSRD headlines correctly
The past two years of coverage mixed up several different stages. Keep this ladder in mind:
Proposed: a Commission draft, such as the February 2025 Omnibus proposal.
Agreed: a political deal between Council and Parliament, as in December 2025.
Adopted: formal approval of the text, as in February 2026.
Published: in the Official Journal, which starts the clock for entry into force.
In force or applicable: the law exists, then applies to a given financial year.
The Commission page makes the same point for delegated acts: they are not in force until published in the Official Journal. A headline saying “CSRD scrapped” or “CSRD delayed” usually describes one rung of this ladder. Another example is the delegated regulation published in the Official Journal on 10 November 2025, which postponed disclosure dates for certain undertakings, and which was a step on the way to the final package.
The pattern for the coming year is predictable: national transposition laws, the final datapoint list, the digital taxonomy and the assurance consultation. Each will produce a news cycle.
FAQ
Is the CSRD still in force after the Omnibus?
Yes. The Omnibus amends the CSRD and does not repeal it. The change narrows scope and simplifies the standards, with the revised rules published in the Official Journal in February 2026.
When do the revised ESRS apply?
The revised ESRS are expected to take effect on 10 November 2026 and apply to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027, according to Accountancy Europe. Early application for the 2026 financial year is permitted.
Does the CSRD affect UK companies?
It can. Non-EU groups are caught where the parent has EU net turnover above €450 million and an EU subsidiary or branch has turnover above €200 million, per the Council. UK suppliers to in-scope EU customers may also receive data requests.
What is the best way to keep up with CSRD updates?
Combine primary sources for legal status with one professional-body digest and one specialist news briefing. Check that each item gives the date, the legal stage and a link to the original document.
Do I still need to prepare if I am now out of scope?
Mandatory reporting may fall away, but customers and lenders often still ask for data. Keeping a voluntary, standard-based dataset ready is a sensible way to answer them.
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