31st March 2025
The Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke, has welcomed proposals by the European Commission to introduce significant changes to the requirements for companies to report on corporate sustainability matters.
The proposals by the Commission will remove approximately 80% of companies from the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), focusing the sustainability reporting obligations on the largest companies which are more likely to have the biggest impacts on people and the environment. For large companies, who are the main category currently within the scope of the CSRD, the Omnibus proposal would restrict the application of the requirements to only those companies having 1,000 employees, as opposed to 250 employees under the current law. The proposed changes will also ensure that sustainability reporting requirements on large companies do not burden smaller companies in their value chains. Further, the 'Stop the Clock' proposal would also postpone by two years the reporting requirements for companies currently within the scope of CSRD and which are required to report for the first time in 2026 or 2027.
Minister Burke will shortly be amending the existing Irish legislation governing CSRD to further clarify and reduce the scope of companies covered, with the Minister also focussed on quickly implementing the EU’s Stop the Clock proposal together with the changes proposed by the wider Omnibus, once these are adopted at EU level, thereby delivering certainty for business at all levels in Ireland.
The proposed amendments to the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) which was due to come into effect by July 2026, will be postponed by a year and will significantly reduce the compliance requirements on effected businesses.
Minister Burke said:
“While the core principle of the EU’s original corporate sustainability reporting regime was well-founded in the context of the EU’s Green Deal, the level of administrative burden associated with the original CSRD was excessive, both for large companies and especially for small and medium companies.
I strongly support the simplification and burden reduction agenda that is being led by President von der Leyen at European level, to maximise the competitiveness of businesses in the EU in the evolving global trading environment. These proposed changes will of course significantly help enterprise in Ireland, and most of all our SMEs.
I will be supporting the Commission’s proposed changes at EU level, and I will be advocating for them to be agreed at the earliest opportunity, to give business the legal certainty that it needs, and so that I can prioritise implementing the changes as soon as possible in Ireland.”
Notes for editors
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (EU) 2022/2464 (CSRD) was the EU’s response to the global reframing of company reporting to include environmental, social and governance matters. It entered into force in January 2023 and arises from the European Green Deal and the EU Action Plan for Financing Sustainable Growth. The aim of the CSRD was to harmonise the EU rules for sustainability reporting by companies and to put this on the same footing as financial reporting, giving investors and other stakeholders access to information to assess investment risks arising from climate change and other sustainability issues.
The CSRD was transposed, on time, in Ireland on 5 July 2024 by SI No 336/2024 - European Union (Corporate Sustainability Reporting) Regulations 2024. A small number of technical clarificatory amendments were required, and the Minister signed a short amending instrument on 1 October 2024, SI No 498/2024.
The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (EU) 2024/1760 (CSDDD) places legal obligations on companies within scope to address the adverse environmental and human rights impacts arising from their operations. Companies must conduct risk-based human rights and environmental due diligence to identify actual or potential adverse impacts and prevent / mitigate / minimise the extent of such impacts. Companies are also required to adopt a climate transition plan. The Directive is currently due to be given effect at Member State level by July 2026.
ENDS
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