The European Commission adopted the revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards on 3 July 2026. They were published in the Official Journal as Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563 on 21 September 2026.
What stays the same
- Double materiality is still the filter. You report impacts, risks and opportunities that are material from either lens.
- The structure is familiar: cross-cutting standards for general requirements and general disclosures, then topical standards for environment, social and governance.
- Reporting still sits in a dedicated section of the management report and is still subject to assurance.
What changes
- Far fewer mandatory datapoints. EFRAG's advice cut them by around 61%, and most voluntary "may disclose" datapoints are gone.
- A lighter materiality process. The standards stress a top-down, judgement-based assessment rather than a datapoint-by-datapoint exercise.
- More reliefs, for example where data from the value chain is hard to obtain, and clearer phase-ins.
- A stronger focus on fair presentation and on information being useful, not exhaustive.
When it applies
The revised standards are mandatory from financial year 2027. For financial year 2026, companies can keep using the original Set 1, apply the revised standards early, or use Set 1 with selected reliefs and clarifications from the new text.
What to do now
- Re-run your double materiality assessment against the revised standards.
- Map your existing datapoint inventory to the new requirements and drop what is no longer needed.
- Check your national transposition of the Omnibus directive, which applies alongside the standards.
Last checked 13 October 2026. Educational content, not legal advice.