An ESG report for 2025 was published by every fourth company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

EU simplifications in sustainability reporting reduced the number of reports on the Warsaw stock exchange by one third. For smaller companies in supply chains, however, this does not mean the end of questions about ESG data.

For 2025, a sustainability report was published by 102 of the 407 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW), or 25 percent. A year earlier, 154 companies did so, or 38 percent. The data comes from the report “ESG Reporting in Poland” by advisory firm Grant Thornton, discussed by pulsHR.pl (opens in a new tab). ESG means information on a company’s impact on the environment, social issues and corporate governance.

According to the authors of the report, the decline is primarily due to EU deregulation. The Omnibus I package and the “Stop the Clock” mechanism narrowed the group of companies covered by the CSRD directive (on sustainability reporting) and postponed reporting deadlines for some issuers. For financial years beginning on January 1, 2027, the obligation will cover companies employing more than 1,000 people and having more than EUR 450 million (about PLN 1.9 billion) in annual net revenue.

Łukasz Kolano of KPMG, quoted by “Rzeczpospolita”, points out that giving up the measurement of ESG indicators does not eliminate business risks such as energy dependence, staff shortages or disruptions in supply chains.

The report also shows the costs. The average fee for assurance, that is, verification of the report by a statutory auditor, rose from PLN 168,000 gross in 2024 to PLN 264,000 gross in 2025, by 57 percent. According to the authors, this is the result of smaller companies leaving the group, as they paid less, and of the concentration of the assurance market in a few firms.

Further changes are already certain. In July 2026, the European Commission adopted the amended European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which reduce the number of mandatory data points by more than 60 percent. The Commission estimates that reporting costs will fall by more than 30 percent per company. The regulation was published on September 21, will enter into force on November 10, 2026, and will apply to financial years from January 1, 2027.

Small and medium-sized companies are exempt from the CSRD obligation, but as suppliers to large companies they may still receive ESG questionnaires from clients. Omnibus limits the scope of these requests: a supplier may refuse to provide data going beyond the voluntary VSME standard for smaller companies. For companies in supply chains, this is a reference point when negotiating the scope of reporting with clients.