EU CSRD: revised ESRS and voluntary reporting standard are published in the Official Journal of the EU

Two Commission Delegated Regulations completing the Omnibus I simplification package for corporate sustainability reporting were published in the Official Journal of the EU today, 21 September 2026:

• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563, amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 and replacing the current European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) with a revised, simplified set (Revised ESRS); and
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560, establishing the voluntary sustainability reporting standard for undertakings outside the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

Revised ESRS 

Entry into force: 10 November 2026.

Mandatory application: for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027 (first reports in 2028).

FY2026: undertakings within the scope of the CSRD for a financial year starting in 2026 may choose between: 

1.  the existing ESRS, 
2. the existing ESRS supplemented by a set of reliefs drawn from the new Delegated Regulation (covering, among other things, the top-down materiality approach, value chain limitation, new acquisitions and disposals, Taxonomy presentation and the executive summary); or 
3. the Revised ESRS in full.

Transparency requirement: the sustainability statement must state clearly which version has been applied.

Voluntary Standard  

Entry into force: 24 September 2026.

Voluntary use: available from 24 September to any undertaking not subject to the mandatory reporting requirements under the CSRD. 

Value chain cap: applies from financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027. From that point, undertakings subject to mandatory sustainability reporting cannot require, from undertakings in their value chain with an average of 1,000 employees or fewer in the preceding financial year, information going beyond the short list of essential environmental, social and governance datapoints set out in Annex II to the Regulation. The cap applies only to information gathered for the requester's own CSRD reporting, and it does not restrict requests needed to comply with other EU or national law obligations.

For more on the ESRS and CSRD, see our CSRD Quick Guide and EU CSRD demystified materials.