The European Commission is preparing an "Omnibus Simplification Package" to address widespread concerns about the regulatory burden on businesses under the EU’s sustainability framework. Announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in November 2024, this initiative seeks to reduce redundancies and stream-line reporting requirements and due dili-gence obligations.
Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 ("EU Deforestation Regulation") was originally scheduled to enter into force on 30 December 2024. However, shortly before its effective date, its entry-into-force was postponed by Regulation (EU) 2024/3234 to 30 December 2025 for large companies and to 30 June 2026 for micro and small companies.
The Draft Commission Notice on the interpretation and implementation of certain legal provisions of the EU Taxonomy Environmental Delegated Act, the EU Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and the EU Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act ("EU Taxonomy FAQs") was published by the European Commission on 29 November 2024. Its text can be read here.
In our previous post, we described a political agreement reached by the Council and the European Parliament on the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transparency and integrity of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating activities, and amending Regulations (EU) 2019/2088 and (EU) 2023/2859 (the "ESG Ratings Regulation"). On 19 November 2024, the ESG Ratings Regulation was formally adopted by the Council (see press release).
The Directive will become effective on 25 July 2024. Member States must incorporate the CSDDD into their national legal systems within two years of that date.
The original version of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD – 2022/2464) empowered the European Commission to adopt the following European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) by 30 June 2024:
In a significant development, the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on 5 February 2024 on the Commission's proposal for a Regulation on the transparency and integrity of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating activities dated 13 June 2023 (the "ESG Ratings Regulation") (see the Council press release).
In a previous blog post, we highlighted the European Commission's pivotal move in adopting the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) as a delegated regulation. These standards were introduced to establish a unified framework for reporting obligations in accordance with Articles 19a and 29a of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD – 2022/2464).
In a landmark move, the European Union has unveiled a pioneering Green Bonds Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/2631 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 November 2023 on European Green Bonds and optional disclosures for bonds marketed as environmentally sustainable and for sustainability-linked bonds) (the "Regulation"), signalling a major step forward in environmentally responsible financing. Published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 30 November 2023, the Regulation is set to become effective on 20 December 2023 and will apply from 21 December 2024.
As part of the European Green Deal, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD - 2022/2464) requires companies in scope to report the information necessary to understand the company’s impact on sustainability issues and the information necessary to understand how sustainability issues affect the company’s development, performance and position.
On 31 July 2023, the European Commission adopted the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) as a delegated regulation (as foreseen in Section 29b (1) of the CSRD), which provides common standards for the reporting requirements under the CSRD. This first set of the ESRS mainly contains general, sector-agnostic reporting standards. The second set of the ESRS (sector-specific standards) is expected to be adopted by the Commission by 20 June 2024.