EFRAG has published the 2026 edition of its State of Play report, a comprehensive analysis of how companies apply the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) in practice. The report is based on 905 sustainability statements for the 2025 financial year, which were audited by third parties and prepared in accordance with the ESRS. This is the second exercise of its kind carried out by EFRAG, following the 2025 edition, which analysed the first mandatory reports under the CSRD.<\/p>\n
One of EFRAG\u2019s main conclusions is that reporting practices have remained, broadly speaking, stable in the second year of ESRS implementation. There have been no radical changes compared with the first cycle, which was to be expected, given that ESRS Set 1 has remained the core framework.<\/p>\n
However, the report also highlights areas where companies are beginning to refine their approach. Several organisations have updated their double materiality analysis, developed climate transition plans and begun to link material issues more clearly to objectives, indicators and internal governance.<\/p>\n
Reporting is becoming more familiar to companies, but the process is still a work in progress. Many organisations have identified material issues, but do not yet have measurable targets for all of them. This gap between materiality analysis and concrete commitments is one of the report\u2019s key findings.<\/p>\n
In the second reporting year, the most frequently identified material topics are the same as in the first cycle (climate change, the company\u2019s own workforce and business conduct). According to EFRAG, E1 Climate Change and S1 Own Workforce are identified as material topics for 99% of the companies analysed. G1 Business Conduct is material for 95% of the companies. These figures show that ESRS reporting focuses on a few cross-cutting issues. Climate is already a central issue for almost all sectors. Own workforce remains essential in the social sphere. Business conduct features prominently in discussions relating to supplier relationships, ethics, remuneration, governance and ESG criteria in supply chains.<\/p>\n
The report shows that 82% of companies have updated their double materiality analysis for the 2024 financial year. The changes range from minor adjustments to changes in methodology or scope. One important observation is the rise in hybrid approaches. 67% of the companies used a methodology combining top-down and bottom-up elements. In other words, the analysis is based both on the business model, strategy and sector comparisons, and on a more detailed identification of impacts, risks and opportunities.<\/p>\n
The proportion of companies publishing a transition plan to mitigate climate change rose from 55% in the 2024 financial year to 69% in the 2025 financial year. EFRAG also shows that 57% of the companies analysed report short- and long-term decarbonisation targets compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5\u00b0C. This development is relevant for companies as it shows that climate reporting is gradually shifting from the description of risks and emissions towards transition plans, targets and implementation.<\/p>\n
The EFRAG report shows that companies identify, on average, 6.4 material ESRS topics, but set measurable targets for only 3.3 of them. An issue may be material to a company, but reporting becomes less effective if there are no clear objectives, indicators, responsibilities and measures. For users of the report, the question is not just which issues are relevant, but also what the company is doing about them.<\/p>\n
The report also indicates that 63% of companies link sustainability performance to remuneration or incentive schemes for senior management. This is a sign that sustainability is beginning to be incorporated into internal governance mechanisms, even if not all companies have reached the same level of integration.<\/p>\n
One interesting detail in the report is the decline in the average length of sustainability statements. EFRAG shows that the average has fallen from 115 pages to 95 pages. At the same time, sustainability information still accounts for around a third of the annual report. Only 6% of companies include a dedicated executive summary. This trend may indicate greater familiarity with the ESRS and a greater ability to structure the information. For companies, the lesson is important: reporting should not simply become longer, but clearer, more relevant and easier to use for investors, banks, employees, authorities and business partners.<\/p>\n
Although climate change remains the dominant issue, the report shows a slight increase in the materiality of other environmental issues. Pollution, water, biodiversity and the circular economy feature more frequently as material issues in companies\u2019 reports. However, EFRAG notes that, for these areas, many companies continue to report at a global level, covering the entire organisation. Breakdowns by region or site remain limited.<\/p>\n
The report also includes a detailed analysis of social issues. EFRAG notes that the average unadjusted pay gap reported between women and men is 14.3% in favour of men, with the largest gaps concentrated in the financial sector. Only 12% of companies supplement this unadjusted indicator with an adjusted analysis that takes into account geographical distribution, job roles or workforce structure.<\/p>\n
In the area of human rights, the report shows that 89% of the companies have formal policies covering workers in the value chain and\/or affected communities. Furthermore, reports of incidents of discrimination and human rights-related incidents feature frequently in the statements analysed.<\/p>\n
The 2026 edition also introduces a more comprehensive analysis of reporting on business conduct. Relationships with suppliers are one of the key themes. EFRAG notes that the management of supplier relationships, including payment practices, is material for 54% of the companies analysed. Furthermore, 81% of the companies for which this topic is relevant mention ESG criteria in their supplier selection, most often through codes of conduct. An important observation for SMEs relates to payment terms. Only 7% of the companies analysed offer specific average payment terms for SMEs. The majority report uniform treatment across their supplier base.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EFRAG a publicat edi\u021bia 2026 a raportului State of Play, o analiz\u0103 ampl\u0103 a modului \u00een care companiile aplic\u0103 \u00een practic\u0103 standardele europene de raportare de sustenabilitate, ESRS. Raportul se bazeaz\u0103 pe 905 declara\u021bii de sustenabilitate pentru anul financiar 2025, auditate de ter\u021bi \u0219i preg\u0103tite conform ESRS. Este al doilea exerci\u021biu de acest tip realizat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noutati"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10722"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10725,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10722\/revisions\/10725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}