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What regulatory and practical changes will the Omnibus Package bring?

The EU Omnibus Package, designed to streamline the CSRD, CSDDD, and EU Taxonomy, provides significant regulatory relief by reducing or deferring reporting obligations. However, one consequence of this relief is that sustainability must now re-establish its economic legitimacy. In the future, it will no longer be the legislature but the organizations themselves that decide on the direction of their sustainability management—and thus also on its future. And successful companies are doing exactly that: they are using the freed-up resources to invest in the sustainability of their business model.

Specifically, five main changes are taking place for CSRD reporting:

The scope of companies subject to reporting requirements will be significantly reduced. Under the final simplified regulations, only companies with more than 1,000 employees and net revenue exceeding 450 million euros will be required to report at the EU level.
The second and third phases have been postponed by two years. The “Stop-the-clock” package has postponed the application by two years for companies that would have had to report for the first time in 2025 or 2026.
Companies in the first wave will receive transitional relief. For “wave one” companies already subject to reporting requirements, the Commission has adopted an ESRS “quick fix”: For the fiscal years 2025 and 2026, they are not yet required to provide certain additional disclosures; they should not face new detailed reporting requirements compared to the 2024 report.
The ESRS will be simplified. Sector standards will become voluntary following the final political agreement, and the reporting requirement will remain at limited assurance; a later transition to reasonable assurance will not be pursued.
Smaller companies in the supply chain will be better protected. Companies with fewer than 1,000 employees will generally no longer be required to provide an unlimited amount of ESG data to larger customers or banks; the voluntary VSME framework serves as the upper limit for this. The Commission has already published a VSME recommendation for this purpose in July 2025.

In summary: Omnibus shifts sustainability reporting from a broad compliance initiative to a more targeted regime for large companies. For many companies, the reporting requirements are significantly reduced; for those still subject to mandatory reporting, the requirements remain relevant, but with more time, less detail, and better protection for the supply chain.

"Solar thermal energy may not be the most obvious solution for industrial heating—but it becomes extremely interesting when you analyze production processes, heat demand, and energy price resilience as a whole."

(Thomas Lührs, Senior Consultant & ENESTRA Partner)

What are the benefits and advantages of “solar thermal energy for industrial heating” for SMEs?

Whar are effects of solar process heat?

Solar process heat is generally a worthwhile alternative for many industrial processes because

Flexible technology mix as the process heat of the future
Technological “shortcut” without detour via electricity
Finiteness of fossil fuels
Price forecasts for fossil fuels
Stability of the respective business model through independence in energy production
Decarbonization efforts and climate targets of countries

What are the advantages of solar thermal energy compared to photovoltaics for generating a stable and predictable heat demand?

An unbiased comparison of solar thermal energy and photovoltaics, which looks beyond the pure module costs to consider sensible overall systems, shows that the following advantages are possible:

Very favorable heat storage

Hot water/buffer storage tanks cost little per kWh_th and operate efficiently;
solar heat can be smoothed over hours or days; high solar shares are feasible

Direct heat, high system efficiency

No conversion chain such as “electricity → heat pump → heat”;
low conversion losses, low parasitic loads.
(Comparable area yields are only technically more complex with heat pumps.)

Higher area yields

In Central Europe per m² per year: Solar thermal energy 400-750 kWh heat compared to 180-220 kWh electricity (if the electricity is used to generate heat, conversion losses are added).

Cost stability

Heat production largely independent of electricity price and COP fluctuations;
easily plannable OPEX (typically 1–2% of CAPEX/year).

Precisely tailored to constant demand

Continuous processes (CIP, pasteurization, washing/cleaning baths, drying) at 90–120 °C can be handled very well via return flow increase/series connection

Relieves boilers and peaks

Preheating reduces fuel consumption, starts and partial load operation, as well as emissions,
boiler only covers residual/peak loads

Robust and durable

20–25-year system service life,
no inverters, simple maintenance (pumps/fittings, heat transfer fluid checks)

Bypasses grid/power limits

Works independently of electrical connection power or grid restrictions;
no curtailment or feed-in issues

Good complement to PV

If PV areas/connections are limited, solar thermal energy provides additional directly usable heat – particularly attractive if sufficient open space and storage options are available.

Conclusion: C-plus-C and ENESTRA are collaborating with a particular focus on projects involving the use of “solar thermal energy for industrial heating”, because many companies still underestimate the industry-specific potential (benefits and advantages) of solar thermal energy. Further background information and details on “Solar thermal energy for industrial heating with ENESTRA” can be found here.