EU Commission Streamlines Certain ESG Reporting Requirements

The European Commission on Friday adopted revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards as part of wider efforts to simplify sustainability reporting requirements and reduce administrative burdens for businesses across the European Union. Under the revised standards, asset managers in Europe that manage investments "subject to a fiduciary duty" to clients will no longer be required to report environmental, social, and governance data for such assets in their sustainability statements. The number of mandatory datapoints was also reduced by more than 60%, which is expected to lead to lower reporting costs for companies. The commission said the measures will be implemented once the two-month scrutiny period, which can be extended by a further two months, is completed.