Catching a later bus: addendums to the Omnibus Package offer some relief to Wave 1 companies

In February 2025, the European Commission launched a major simplification project, the Omnibus Package, covering the three pillars of its ESG regulatory framework: the Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive ("CSRD"), the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive ("CS3D") and the EU Taxonomy (the "Taxonomy")

On the sustainability reporting side, one clear beneficiary of the package were so-called "Wave 2" and "Wave 3" companies (large non-listed companies, and listed SMEs) who were granted a two year delay on their reporting obligations (see our article on the "Stop-the-clock" package here).

However, the "stop-the-clock" left out in the cold "Wave 1" companies (large listed companies), which were required to start reporting on FY 2024, with reports being published during 2025. Many of these companies were already in the midst of preparing their CSRD reports, just as the European Commission was working through its simplification proposals.

The European Commission indicated in a public meeting on 13 May 2025 of the European Parliament's JURI Committee that it intends to publish a Delegated Regulation amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772[1] to provide some relief to such Wave 1 companies.

The draft Delegated Regulation introduces two forms of relief:

1. Extending any current transitional relief until 2027.
2. Providing additional new transitional relief from certain datapoints until financial year 2027, including:

• the anticipated financial effects of the undertaking’s material risks and opportunities on its financial position, financial performance and cash flows (ESRS 2, SMB-3, para. 48(e)), as well as the anticipated financial effects from various topic-specific impacts, risks and opportunities:
  • pollution (ESRS E2-6);
  • water and marine resources (ESRS E3-5); and
  • biodiversity (ESRS E4-6);
• for undertakings or groups not exceeding on their balance sheet dates the average number of 750 employees during the financial year (on a consolidated basis where applicable):
  • the datapoints on scope 3 emissions and total GHG emissions (ESRS E1-6);
  • the entirety of ESRS E4 (Biodiversity and Ecosystems);
  • the entirety of the four "Social" topical standards (ESRS S1 (Own Workforce), ESRS S2 (Workers in the Value Chain), ESRS E4 (Affected Communities) and ESRS E4 (Consumers and End Users));
• various datapoints in ESRS S1 (Own Workforce), including: characteristics of non-employee workers; collective bargaining coverage; data on disabilities; social protection' training and skills development; health and safety; work-life balance.

By the time such transitional relief expires in 2027, it is expected that the overall revision and simplification of ESRS will have been completed, and that the Directive amending the substantive provisions of the CSRD will have entered into force.

The final version of the delegated act will be adopted before summer 2025 by the European Commission.