EBA Issues Opinion to the European Commission on the Draft Amended European Sustainability Reporting Standards
•February 18, 2026
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Why It Matters
EBA’s feedback will shape the final ESRS, directly affecting reporting obligations for large firms and the quality of sustainability data used by banks for risk management.
Key Takeaways
- •EBA praises EFRAG's simplification of ESRS
- •Calls for time‑limited reliefs, not permanent
- •Permanent reliefs could cut quantitative sustainability data
- •Risks undermining interoperability with global standards
- •Impacts banks' risk management and information gathering
Pulse Analysis
The European Union’s push for robust sustainability disclosure has culminated in the Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD) and its accompanying European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). These standards aim to provide investors, regulators, and the public with comparable, quantitative data on corporate environmental and social performance. By streamlining the original ESRS, EFRAG hopes to lower compliance costs for large, well‑resourced companies, while preserving the granularity needed for effective risk assessment across the financial sector.
The EBA’s Opinion highlights a critical tension: permanent reliefs—exemptions that reduce reporting obligations—could erode the very quantitative insights the Commission prioritized. Without time‑bound limits, firms might submit less detailed metrics, forcing banks to seek supplemental information through costly bilateral engagements. This not only hampers data comparability but also threatens alignment with international frameworks such as the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, potentially fragmenting the global reporting landscape.
Looking ahead, the European Commission must balance simplification with data fidelity. Incorporating the EBA’s recommendations could lead to a revised ESRS that retains streamlined processes while imposing clear expiry dates on reliefs, ensuring ongoing data quality. Such a calibrated approach would support banks’ risk models, satisfy investor demand for transparent ESG metrics, and reinforce the EU’s position as a leader in sustainable finance standards.
EBA issues Opinion to the European Commission on the draft amended European Sustainability Reporting Standards
The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an Opinion on the draft amended European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) developed by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG). The EBA recognises through this Opinion, addressed to the European Commission, the progress achieved in simplifying elements of the initial standards while also highlighting key issues that require further attention – most notably, the permanent nature of certain reliefs.
The EBA welcomes the progress achieved by EFRAG in streamlining and clarifying several aspects of the initial standards and supports the general approach that aims to reduce the reporting compliance costs.
However, the EBA calls for institutions to keep analysing sustainability‑related risks and recommends time‑limits for alleviations in a number of areas. The Opinion focuses on key aspects and concerns related to the proposed reliefs, especially those with a permanent nature, and their possible consequences. In particular, the possible cumulative impact of the overall set of reliefs may significantly reduce the amount of quantitative information reported by undertakings, against one of the objectives expressed by the Commission when opening this review (i.e., prioritise quantitative data) and shift the burden onto users of the information, including banks. The EBA encourages the Commission to consider the issues described in the Opinion before adoption of the amended draft ESRS.
Undertakings within the scope of the revised CSRD – typically the largest and best‑resourced companies – should be capable of meeting these requirements. The EBA notes that granting such reliefs without an adequate time‑limit may undermine the interoperability with international sustainability standards, and would increase the burden on users of the information, such as financial institutions, who may need to resort to bilateral contact with their counterparties to request information necessary for their risk management.
The European Commission also requested an Opinion from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and the European Central Bank (ECB).
Legal basis and background
This Opinion is based on Article 16a(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 (‘EBA founding regulation’), which mandates the EBA to issue opinions in its area of competence as requested by the European Commission. In addition, Article 49(3b) of Directive 2013/34/EU (Accounting Directive), as amended by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), lays down the conditions for the adoption by the European Commission of the delegated acts on the ESRS, including the need to request an opinion, among others, to the EBA.
In 2025, EFRAG was requested by the European Commission to deliver technical advice on how to simplify the delegated act on the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS ‘Set 1’) by November 2025. EFRAG completed this simplification exercise at the end of November and published the draft amended ESRS on 3 December 2025, after a public consultation period in the summer of 2025.
The draft amended ESRS set out simplified rules and requirements for companies to report on sustainability‑related aspects under the Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Documents
Opinion on the draft simplified European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS)
(365.85 KB – PDF) – Download
Letter to Mr Berrigan (DG FISMA) on Submission of Opinion on ESRS EFRAG
(400.7 KB – PDF) – Download
Letter from John Berrigan (DG FISMA) to the EBA on EBA's opinion on the draft ESRS developed by EFRAG
(142.46 KB – PDF) – Download
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