EU: EBA publishes no-action letter on application of ESG Pillar 3 disclosure requirements under EBA disclosure ITS

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published a no-action letter (in the form of an Opinion) on the application of the ESG Pillar 3 disclosure requirements under the EBA disclosure ITS. The letter aims to address legal and operational uncertainties following the Omnibus package. 

The letter formalises the guidance already provided in the EBA’s Consultation Paper published in May 2025 on the amending ITS of the EBA Pillar 3 disclosure framework. Under that Consultation Paper, the EBA had proposed a phased approach for certain disclosure requirements under the ITS. In particular: 

• The EBA considered that large, listed institutions (which are already subject to the existing Pillar 3 ESG disclosure framework) should be able to benefit from a reporting suspension for Templates 6-10, until end 2026. This is because Templates 6-10 are linked to the Taxonomy and Green Asset Ratio - and requiring publication of these templates, while the related Taxonomy delegated acts are simultaneously being revised as part of the Omnibus proposals (see our original blog post on these proposals here), may have led to uncertainty and complexity across these disclosures. 
• The EBA also considered that institutions newly brought into scope of the Pillar 3 ESG disclosures (including small, non-complex institutions and non-listed institutions) should begin to apply their more limited disclosures from end 2026 as well.  

 To support this guidance on transitional provisions, the EBA no-action letter therefore includes the following recommendations to EU competent authorities:

• To not prioritise the enforcement of the disclosure of certain ESG disclosure templates (notably Templates 6-10, and as well as specific columns in Templates 1 and 4 that relate to Taxonomy climate change mitigation disclosures) of the Commission’s Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/3172, for large institutions with listed securities;
• To not prioritise the enforcement of the collection of templates 6-10 and the specific columns in Templates 1 and 4 of the EBA Decision EBA/DC/498 of 6 July 2023, for large institutions with listed securities;
• To not prioritise the enforcement of the disclosure of the corresponding ESG templates under the Commission’s Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/3172 for all other institutions recently brought under the scope of Article 449a of the CRR. 

The EBA's recommendations are stated to apply from the period starting from the 30 June 2025 (thereby also addressing the concern for large, listed institutions about whether their H1 2025 reports would still have had to include Taxonomy-related disclosures) until the EBA amending ITS enters into force. 

However, even with this no-action letter, the overlap of Pillar 3 and Taxonomy reforms continues to raise various uncertainties. In particular, it remains unclear how the EBA's recommendations and timing will now fit with the new proposed optional relief for banks from Taxonomy reporting until 31 December 2027, as introduced by the Delegated Regulation adopted by the European Commission on 4 July (see our blog post here). There are also broader questions around the extent to which entities benefitting from relief under the Taxonomy will be able to benefit from similar relief under Pillar 3 ESG disclosures. We continue to monitor these issues and address questions around this overlap.

 The EBA has also updated its ESG risk dashboard with December 2024 data.

 The Opinion is available here.

The EBA press release is available here.

We are tracking EU Omnibus changes here.