Over the past few years, EFRAG has alternated its focus between standards development and implementation support: 2021-2023 saw work on the first set of ESRSs, 2024 saw three sets of implementation guidelines and the launch of Q&A (in parallel, work on standards for SMEs and non-European companies was being completed, but it didn't take too long). Last year, the only priority was to simplify the ESRS. So in 2026, EFRAG may finally get around to expanding the implementation support system.
How it will work will be decided by the Sustainability Reporting Board, but first the draft action plan to support the application of the standards will be subject to public consultation - scheduled for the summer of 2026. The first work on the project is already underway, handled by a special working group selected within EFRAG.
I had the pleasure of organizing a meeting on March 31, 2026 between Laurence Rivat, SR Board member and head of this group, and representatives of nearly twenty Polish companies represented by those responsible for sustainability reporting. It was an opportunity to communicate directly to EFRAG the companies' expectations of the support system. Many made consistent suggestions:
- Materials created by EFRAG should explain the requirements of the standards in simple language.
- Examples are important, and ideally they would come from actual company reports.
- Although most reporting experts are fluent in English, it is important that materials are also available in Polish and other languages for use within groups.
- If EFRAG announces public consultations of some materials, this should be done at times convenient for companies, i.e., bypassing reporting periods.
- Responses to companies' questions should be published quickly, preferably no later than within 2-4 weeks. In addition, there should be a moratorium period from October to March on the submission of clarifications to standards, because if an additional interpretation appears a week or two before the deadline for report approval, neither the companies nor the auditors will have time to take it into account.
In addition, the meeting participants raised a number of innovative ideas on how EFRAG could further facilitate companies' application of the standards. One of these was to set up a help desk, for example in the form of a hotline, where company representatives could ascertain their understanding of specific provisions of the standards.
Will the SR Board take these requests and proposals into account? Probably not all expectations will be met, but after the meeting Laurence assured me that the voice of the Polish companies was one of the most interesting in the series of meetings she held in recent weeks. First of all, it was from a country outside the traditional group participating in all the consultations (France, Germany, Italy, Benelux and the Nordic countries). Secondly, she pointed out that representatives of Polish companies spoke most about their day-to-day challenges in implementing the standards, with all statements focused on practice rather than theory.
I, in turn, intend to ensure that as many of the Polish companies' demands as possible make it into EFRAG's implementation work plan. And later - in the summer - the time will come for public consultations on the project, and then I will urge you all to actively participate in them 😊.
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