This year, the world continued to pivot toward greater corporate transparency and accountability, driven to sustainability action by pressure from investors, customers, and regulators. 2024 proved that measuring and reporting on sustainability is now a business imperative. Several jurisdictions around the world codified significant environmental, social, and governance (ESG) regulations, including CSRD in the EU, climate disclosure regulation in California, and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Standards in Australia, Canada, and Hong Kong, to name a few. These mandatory regulations signal a global shift toward ESG disclosures for both public and private markets, driving companies to integrate sustainability considerations into their operations and reporting practices.
For businesses, these upcoming deadlines represent more than regulatory obligations—they’re an opportunity to drive meaningful change by demonstrating leadership and building trust in stakeholders. Here are key deadlines for several sustainability standards, frameworks, and regulations for investors and companies to keep top of mind for 2025.
Standards and Frameworks
The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB)
GRESB is a global organization that assesses the ESG performance of real estate and infrastructure assets. Its Infrastructure Asset Assessment follows an annual cycle with key dates for participants to ensure timely submission and evaluation of their ESG performance data. For the 2025 assessment, the anticipated timeline is as follows:
- April 1, 2025: GRESB Portal opens for the 2024 GRESB Assessments.
- July 1, 2025: GRESB Assessment Portal closes. This is the submission deadline for the 2024 Assessments.
More details on reporting timelines can be found on the GRESB website here.
The ESG Data Convergence Initiative (EDCI)
EDCI is a global coalition of over 450 GPs and LPs across private equity, private credit, and infrastructure. The data submission deadline is April 30th, 2025 for data covering the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2024. Participating General Partners (GPs) are required to submit their ESG data by this date. This timeframe ensures consistency across submissions, facilitating accurate benchmarking and analysis. Read takeaways from the EDCI’s recent changes to its 2025 guidance.
Regulations
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
Compliance deadlines to report to the CSRD will depend on specific EU member states. However, a new set of companies can expect to fall into scope of the regulation in 2025 and over the next couple of years. The timeline includes:
- 2025: Reporting on the financial year 2024 for companies already subject to the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD).
- 2026: Reporting on the financial year 2025 for companies not previously under the NFRD.
- 2027: Reporting on the financial year 2026 for listed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), excluding micro-enterprises, small and non-complex credit institutions, and captive insurance undertakings.
Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR)
Financial market participants are expected to disclose their annual Principal Adverse Impact (PAI) statements detailing how investment decisions negatively impact sustainability factors by June 30th, 2025. This report covers the reference period from January 1 to December 31st, 2024, and must include year-on-year comparisons once five reference periods have been completed.
California Climate Disclosure Laws
In December 2024, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced that for the first initial reporting year in 2026, it will exercise enforcement discretion. Companies that make a “good faith effort” to comply will not face penalties for incomplete reports. This approach acknowledges the challenges businesses may encounter in establishing data collection processes for accurate reporting. With that said, no changes have been made to delay the initial compliance date in 2026 for 2025. Those following the law closely expect the California Air Resources Board to update and clarify specific dates in its implementation rules expected by July 1st, 2025.
Staying Ahead of Sustainability Reporting Deadlines
The sustainability landscape continues to evolve, and taking steps now to collect—or prepare to collect—relevant data will be essential to meet upcoming compliance deadlines. The Novata team will continue to keep a close eye on the impact of changes to regulations, standards, and frameworks on the private markets. To learn more about recent regulatory changes, check out our Q4 regulatory update.
