Environmental Reporting and Simplification

Environmental reporting has a key role in the environmental policy cycle. Although the costs of reporting are well recognised and studied, the benefits are challenging to account for, and little consideration exists of reporting specific benefits. Hence, it is essential to better inform the European public about these upsides while simplifying the reporting burden for national administrations and businesses.   

Trinomics, in cooperation with WSP and Ricardo, are currently conducting a study on behalf of DG Environment to review options for simplification of reporting requirements, notably from a business perspective. The study covers all environmental legislation under the control of DG Environment, including the legislation related to air, industrial emissions, nature, noise, products, waste, water and governance, and with a specific emphasis on accounting for business reporting obligations.   

For this purpose, the study team is undertaking a comprehensive review of all legislative instruments under the control of DG Environment (task 1), identifying related business reporting obligations (task 2) and assessing their costs and benefits (task 3). The study team will then review progress under the existing reporting action plan resulting from the previous Fitness Check on Reporting and Monitoring (task 4) and review concrete options for simplification for a select number of legislative acts (task 5). The study will furthermore, and for a limited number of cases, identify other legal obligations of an administrative nature where these exist, for a review of their scope and dimensions, and any administrative burden associated with them (task 6).   

In order to be able to take account of stakeholder views and experience of these reporting and administrative obligations (task 7), several steps are foreseen when the views and inputs of stakeholders are sought.  

 

Summary of completed and ongoing stakeholder consultations: 

Online Webinar on environmental reporting (13 February 2025) 

The online Webinar took place on 13 February 2025 with 319 participants attending. The first study results were discussed and suggestions for simplification solicited. The presentations and the summary report can be found here:  

Workshop 1_Summary report FINAL.pdf 

EC presentation Feb 2025.pdf 

Env reporting_Slides_Webinar 1.pdf 

 

Targeted Survey on reporting costs (24 February – 25 March 2025) 

The survey was launched following an online webinar (held on 13 February 2025) on the ‘assessment of environmental reporting and the potential for simplification’, during which the survey was announced, with the aim of collecting information on business and Member States reporting costs as well as ideas for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of reporting. 

The reports on the survey can be found under the following weblinks. The consolidated summary of suggestions for simplification only encompasses those responses where owners have granted the right to publication.  

Env_Reporting_Survey_Synposis_Report.pdf 

Annex 1_Synopsis_Report Survey Questionnaire.pdf 

Env_Reporting_Survey_ConsSummary.pdf 

 

In addition, the European Commission has launched a Call for Evidence Simplification of administrative burdens in environmental legislation to obtain further suggestions for simplifying administrative tasks within environmental legislation. The aim is to reduce the administrative burden without affecting the environmental objectives agreed under the existing legislation. The goal is not to lower the EU’s environmental objectives or the protection of human health granted by EU environmental laws, but to attain them more efficiently without imposing avoidable costs to businesses (especially SMEs), public administrations and the public. This will ensure that environmental policies are faster, easier and cheaper to implement, while ensuring that the environmental objectives are achieved. 

The Call for Evidence is open for receipt of  responses until 10 September 2025.