EFRAG State of Play 2026 Report Now Available
EFRAG publishes the 2026 edition of the State of Play Report, providing an evidence-based assessment of sustainability reporting practice over 900 assured 2025 sustainability statements prepared under ESRS.
EFRAG is pleased to publish the 2026 State of Play Report on the implementation practices of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). The study draws on a baseline of 905 assured Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025) sustainability statements, assessed against a structured set of 18 questions spanning the full breadth of the ESRS cross-cutting, environmental, social, and governance standards. Building on the inaugural edition covering 2024 sustainability statements, this year's study expands the scope of the analysis with new insights into companies' double materiality methodology, the linkage of material topics with executive incentive schemes, and the geographical disaggregation of environmental metrics. The methodology is documented in full in the report.
Main practice observations:
Reporting practices remain broadly stable in the second year of ESRS application, with E1 Climate Change (99%), S1 Own Workforce (99%), and G1 Business Conduct (95%) continuing to be the most frequently identified material topics across sectors and countries.
82% of companies updated their Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) compared with FY2024, while 67% adopted a hybrid approach, combining top-down and bottom-up methodologies.
Climate transition planning continues to gain momentum, with the share of companies disclosing a Climate Transition Plan increasing from 55% to 69%, while 57% report near- and long-term decarbonisation targets aligned with a 1.5°C pathway.
Sustainability is becoming more integrated into corporate strategy, although opportunities remain: companies identify on average 6.4 material ESRS topics, but set measurable targets for only 3.3, and 63% link sustainability performance to executive incentive schemes.
Reporting continues to mature, with the average sustainability statement decreasing from 115 to 95 pages, suggesting increased familiarity with the ESRS framework while sustainability disclosures continue to represent around one-third of annual reports.
The study also provides new insights into social and governance reporting, including an average unadjusted gender pay gap of 14.3%, widespread disclosure of human rights policies (89% of companies), and increasing use of ESG criteria in supplier selection (81%).
▶ Access the State of Play Report on the ESRS Knowledge Hub
The report is also available on the interactive dashboard, allowing users to explore findings by country, sector and reporting topic and benchmark sustainability reporting practices across Europe, and in PDF.
Hear the insights behind the report
What do more than 900 sustainability statements tell us about the future of sustainability reporting in Europe?
In a new exclusive webcast, Kerstin Lopatta, Chair of the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board, joins Jannik Leiendecker, Partner & Director at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), to unpack the report's most important findings, discuss emerging reporting trends, and explain what they mean for preparers, investors and other stakeholders.