CSRD Directive: Outlook and Challenges in 2025

In early 2025, French companies subject to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) were worried about the upcoming compliance burden and were calling for the rules to be relaxed. Since then, the European Union has indeed responded to these requests through the Omnibus package. Here is what has changed in practice.

What French companies were asking for

Faced with the complexity and cost of compliance (collecting and verifying ESG data, uncertainty about certain requirements, concerns about competitiveness against non-European companies), several French organizations had called for a moratorium on the application of the CSRD, considering it too burdensome given how prepared companies were. The French government had relayed these concerns to the European Commission.

What has actually changed

The European response came in two stages. First, the "Stop the Clock" directive, adopted in April 2025, postponed the entry into force of the CSRD by two years for large unlisted companies in wave 2 and for listed SMEs. Then the Omnibus I directive raised the application thresholds: the CSRD now only applies to companies that exceed both 1,000 employees and €450 million in revenue, compared with a much lower threshold and a "2 out of 3" criterion previously. This refocusing reduces the number of companies legally covered by around 80% compared with the initial 2022 scope.

In practice, large unlisted companies that remain in scope will publish their first report in 2028, covering the 2027 financial year. The new thresholds will take effect in French law by March 2027 at the latest.

An opportunity nonetheless

Even for companies that have fallen outside the legal scope after this refocusing, the underlying logic still holds: investors, major contracting organizations and financial markets continue to expect ESG transparency comparable to that required by the CSRD. Private initiatives, such as the label based on CSRD standards launched by the Lucie agency, allow companies to voluntarily showcase an approach aligned with these standards, even in the absence of any legal obligation.

For full details of the new thresholds, the timeline and the principles of the CSRD, see our complete guide to the post-Omnibus CSRD.

To navigate this transition with confidence, it is essential to rely on experts in IT asset management and sustainable finance. Leasetic is available to support you in achieving CSRD compliance and optimizing your environmental performance.

To go even further in your CSRD compliance efforts and in improving your CSR performance, Leasetic has partnered with Colibris, a unique solution for measuring and improving the economic and environmental performance of your supplier contracts.