The day after tomorrow, on Wednesday 10 June from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, I am running a training session on the simplified ESRS standards. Over the course of 2 hours we will go through all the changes to the standards and explain how to apply principles such as fair presentation and undue cost or effort, or how to simplify and shorten the materiality assessment, or use metrics with a limited scope.
A week later, the two-day ESG Ideas Fair organized by the Responsible Business Forumbegins (17–18 June). It is, above all, a unique opportunity to meet John Elkington, who on the first day will appear twice: during the keynote speech at 10:15 and in the panel discussion at 16:25. On the second day I will lead one of the workshops (on the simplified ESRS, what else 😉), and throughout the whole conference you will be able to see PowerESRS.
Last week the public consultations closed on the draft delegated regulations introducing the new ESRS and the standard for voluntary use (VS). 16 of the 453 responses submitted on the ESRS came from Poland. "Not great, not terrible", because these are no longer the days when the organisations from our country taking part in consultations could be counted on the fingers of one hand, but even so, ninth place (seventh among EU Member States) is a little below our weight. In the case of the VS draft, only 4 of the 203 responses came from Poland. You can find MATERIALITY's responses in these consultations here (ESRS) and here (VS). Now everything is in the hands of the Commission, which has promised to issue the delegated regulation by the end of June. The end of June, in the Commission's language, means "certainly before the end of July." And the end of July has two very pragmatic justifications: first, it is the last moment for the scrutiny period (even if extended) to expire before the end of the year, so that the regulation, once issued, can be published in the Official Journal of the EU; and second, at the start of August everyone leaves Brussels for the holidays, so they want to wrap up whatever they can before going on leave.
EFRAG is currently working very intensively on the draft non-EU reporting standards, i.e. those that will be applied by the largest companies headquartered outside the European Union. The draft standard is the subject of heated discussions within the Sustainability Reporting TEG and Board. They concern the idea (pushed by the European Commission) of exempting non-EU companies from reporting a large part of the information. Is it even worth taking an interest in a standard that European companies will not apply? Absolutely! It is, after all, about protecting their interests, which means, among other things, ensuring that competitors from outside the EU disclose the same information rather than being handed gentler operating rules as a gift. You can find some information about the non-EU standards project under development in the presentation discussed during one of the recent SR Board meetings.
EFRAG's work also concerns the implementation support system for companies. Preliminary consultations indicate that most of them would prefer not to see too much material such as implementation guidance (IG) or questions and answers (Q&A), because although these are helpful, first, they are additional material that has to be studied, and second, many advisers and auditors treat them as quasi-legal provisions and force companies to apply them literally. The draft implementation work plan will be put out for public consultation in the summer. Many people have asked me in recent months when EFRAG will finally publish the list of data points for the simplified ESRS (IG3). Certainly not before the Commission issues the delegated regulation. And possibly not before next year at all.
June is shaping up to be very intense. I invite you to the events mentioned above and to keep following what EFRAG and the Commission do next with the various aspects of the sustainability reporting system 😊
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