EU is set to shrink ESG reporting rules amid French demands

Germany has already raised objections about the scope of CSRD

CSRD would affect as many as 50,000 companies doing business in the European Union. Picture: Alex Kraus /Bloomberg

The European Union is set to scale back its highly contested ESG reporting requirements, as France prepares to unveil a formal proposal seeking to limit the scope of the regulatory framework.

The French government is readying a new set of recommendations intended to rein in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and may present its proposal as early as this week.

The development means the EU’s two biggest economies are now pressuring the European Commission to make cuts to CSRD, after Germany’s government last month urged the bloc’s executive arm to scale back the directive. That’s as fresh data show Europe’s largest economy shrank for a second consecutive year in 2024, with many business leaders and lawmakers blaming regulations for a loss of competitiveness.

“There is a common diagnosis of the need to lighten the burden on businesses to make them commensurate with the challenges we face,” Robert Ophele, chair of the French Accounting Standards Authority and a former head of the country’s financial regulator, said by email. “Differences are more in the magnitude and timing of what should be done.” 

A French government spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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A European retreat from its ESG (environmental, social and governance) ambitions coincides with a new political reality in the US, where President Donald Trump has committed to unwind Biden-era climate policies, boost fossil-fuel production and impose tariffs on goods from countries traditionally seen as allies.

The European Commission may choose to back significant limits in the scope of CSRD, according to people familiar with the matter. Talks are ongoing and the commission continues to take new information into account, the people said.

A spokesperson for the commission declined to comment on details of the discussions currently underway. The EU’s executive arm is assessing various files for inclusion in the so-called omnibus proposal, the spokesperson said by email, referring to a legislative process that combines more than one proposal.

Talks are expected to continue until February 26, when the commission is scheduled to discuss and possibly adopt the omnibus legislation, the commission spokesperson said. The timeline may be subject to change.

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In the existing plan, CSRD would affect as many as 50,000 companies doing business in the European Union. Companies with at least 250 employees and annual revenue of €50m must report hundreds of ESG data points, ranging from the gender diversity of their boards to the biodiversity risks posed by their operations. The first batch of companies started collecting such data last year, with public disclosures due to be published in 2024 annual reports.

Though widely supported in 2022 when it was adopted, CSRD is now drawing criticism from policymakers and businesses alike as deadlines loom to publish the first reports. A separate set of EU-focused ESG rules, called the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, has already seen its scope limited so that it only affects companies with at least 1,000 employees and annual revenue of at least €450m.

Bloomberg

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