EU Omnibus and the CSRD: key questions answered
Published date: 30 April 2025
Why GRI remains highly relevant for sustainability reporting in Europe
The European Commission’s ‘Simplification Omnibus’ raises questions for companies on what their EU disclosure requirements will be, given significant expected changes to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). However, for thousands of GRI reporters in Europe, continued voluntary reporting with the GRI Standards offers clarity as they seek to understand their future transparency needs.
GRI has published an updated Q&A on the CSRD that addresses some of the key questions from GRI reporting companies, covering topics such as:
· How GRI will engage with EFRAG as the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are revised, ensuring continued close alignment with the GRI Standards.
· The benefits of companies using GRI’s comprehensive set of sustainability standards, to fully address impact reporting as part of a ‘double materiality’ approach.
· The differences and synergies between reporting using the GRI Standards, the ESRS and the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards in moving towards a global corporate reporting system.
The publication also highlights training, resources and services from GRI to support companies in using the ESRS, and help reporters understand the implications of the CSRD. These include:
· CSRD learning through the GRI Academy: ESRS training courses on stakeholder engagement, materiality assessment, data collection, assurance, and digital reporting.
· GRI-ESRS Interoperability Index and the ESRS-GRI Standards Datapoint Mapping: Tools for reporters to assess how ESRS and GRI datapoints correspond.
· GRI-ESRS Linkage Service: A customized reporting alignment review of GRI and ESRS linkages, with practical feedback on how to adapt and use relevant disclosures and datapoints.
It is understandable that the changes to the CSRD are creating some uncertainty for companies operating in the EU, in terms of how they approach sustainability reporting. However, companies can be reassured that using the GRI Standards as part of a global reporting strategy helps streamline the disclosure process. We will continue to collaborate with EFRAG as the ESRS is revised to seek closer alignment with the GRI Standards. For those companies that are already required to report under the CSRD, GRI has a wide range of services and support available, which we will keep up-to-date once the final outcome of the Omnibus process is known.
Mario Abela, Director, GRI Standards