Provisional agreement reached in Europe on simplified sustainability reporting – Omnibus I

Lawmakers in the European Parliament (EP) and Council have agreed on a provisional deal to simplify and reduce sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements for companies.

The changes form part of so called ‘Omnibus I’ released as a set of proposed changes to simplify sustainability and due diligence reporting by the European Commission (EC) in February 2025.

Key highlights of the agreement

Simplified sustainability reporting and reduction in scope

• Only EU companies with over 1,000 employees on average and a net annual turnover exceeding €450 million would be required to report on sustainability.
• The same turnover threshold, i.e. €450 million generated within the EU, would apply for non-EU companies.
• Reporting requirements would become more focused on quantitative information.
• Sector-specific reporting would be voluntary.
• Smaller companies with under 1,000 employees would be protected from being required to provide additional data beyond the voluntary set of sustainability reporting standards.
• The EC would launch a digital portal offering templates and guidelines on EU and national reporting requirements.

Corporate due diligence

• Due diligence obligations would apply only to EU companies with over 5,000 employees and a net annual turnover above €1.5 billion.
• The same turnover threshold for due diligence requirements, i.e. €1.5 billion generated within the EU, would apply for non-EU companies.
• Companies would be required to adopt a risk-based approach across their value chains and would be required to avoid requesting unnecessary information from businesses that fall outside the defined scope.
• Transition plans aligned with the Paris Agreement would no longer be mandatory.
• Non-compliance with due diligence requirements would result in national-level rather than EU level penalties, with non-compliance fines of up to 3% of the company’s net global turnover.

The Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) has approved the text of the provisional agreement on 11 December 2025. The Parliamentary plenary vote is scheduled for 16 December 2025 in Strasbourg.

For further information, please refer to the press release from the EP.

For the final text of the provisional agreement sent to the European Parliament, please refer to this link.

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Source: BDO Global