The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said that the commission would launch a "far-reaching simplification of our sustainable finance and due diligence rules".

She was doubtless referring to the 'Omnibus Simplification Package', the first draft of which is due to be published on 26th February – and her comment echoes that of the Commission's EVP Stéphane Séjourné, who has warned corporates to expect a "massive simplification".

This was perhaps to be expected given that the governments of the two largest economies in Europe, Germany and France, have both recently called for 2-year postponements to CSRD and CSSSD.

The regulation being targeted for simplification would surely include these two disclosure requirements, and most likely the EU Taxonomy, given that the 'omnibus' seems focused on the reporting burden on corporates.

Proposals to streamline sustainability disclosure requirements for asset managers, such as SFDR, are likely to remain separate to the omnibus.

The CSRD's data collection requirements for large companies came into effect at the start of this month, albeit most companies are still figuring out what sort of sustainability data they should be collecting, given their first CSRD reports are not due until 2026.

Daniella Woolf, founder of the sustainability advisory firm Danesmead, said that it was "welcome for certain European corporates to hear that there may be some kind of simplification or delay of CSRD, especially those who have not yet made a start...'', but that "most organisations we are working with on CSRD are continuing as though reporting timelines will remain intact.''

CSRD is unlikely to disappear; a draft EC document outlining plans to improve EU competitiveness said the EC will cut 25% of reporting requirements for larger companies and 35% for small businesses.

That is still onerous, and most companies will require help from a specialist consultancy - but there is a growing probability that the reporting date of '2026' will become '2028'.

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