As part of its efforts to increase European competitiveness, the European Commission adopted a simplification package, the Omnibus I, in February 2025. This covers several areas, such as sustainable finance rules, due diligence reporting and the carbon border adjustment mechanism, among others. Decided under the previous Commission term, they are already being reviewed under the guise of competitiveness of European industry.

One of the regulations included in the package, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), mandates companies to report on their sustainability impacts, risks and opportunities on a yearly basis, and for that report to be audited by an independent third party.

Several companies that have reported this year under the current CSRD argue that the practices of the authorised audit firms have made reporting too extensive and complex, and therefore too expensive and not time-efficient internally, on top of not always focusing on the most material elements of a company’s sustainability footprint. In this quest for overall simplification of the Directive, some stakeholders are calling for auditing requirements to also be streamlined.

One issue that stakeholders see with the current transposition of CSRD is that less than a quarter of EU Member States authorise Independent Assurance Service Providers (IASPs), which results in a highly concentrated market around a small amount of authorised companies. By opening the market to IASPs, companies in scope will have access to a wider range of assurance providers. This can lead to making specialised expertise more accessible, especially for smaller companies that will be in scope of the CSRD in 2029, thus lowering the cost and burden of compliance, without lowering the ambition and effectiveness of the Directive.

Listen to this Euractiv Hybrid Conference to discuss how the simplification of sustainability reporting and assurance can become a reality and an opportunity for EU competitiveness. Questions to be addressed include:
- What impact does sustainability reporting have on investment levels?
- What makes double materiality reporting essential?
- What are the benefits of opening the market to IASPs?
- How can the European Commission best review the concentration of the assurance market and ensure diversification?
- What could be the ideal guidelines for companies to conduct voluntary reporting and assurance, so that it remains affordable for organisations of all sizes?
- What are some concrete examples of the ways in which the revision of CSRD can strengthen Europe’s economy? How do these compete on an international level?