In March 2026, the Finnish Government submitted a proposal to Parliament to amend the Accounting Act and the Auditing Act in line with the EU Omnibus I Directive on sustainability regulation. Under the proposal, the sustainability reporting obligation would apply to companies with a turnover exceeding EUR 450 million and more than 1,000 employees. The amendment is expected to enter into force on 30 June 2026, but the provisions may already be applied to financial years starting on or after 1 January 2026.
Going forward, Varma will no longer fall within the scope of mandatory sustainability reporting. We have decided to adopt voluntary sustainability reporting, aligned with the simplified European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). We will complement the reporting with topics that are material to our sector and operations. We will also continue to utilise double materiality assessments in the future.
“Our strategic ambition is to be a leader in sustainability, with a clear focus on meaningful sustainability actions. The simplified standards best support our strategy. Voluntary application allows us to communicate our sustainability work more clearly and with a stronger focus on Varma’s core operations. The change also enables us to allocate resources more effectively to sustainability work itself,” says Hanna Kaskela, Senior Vice President responsible for sustainability at Varma.
"Voluntary application allows us to communicate our sustainability work more clearly and with a stronger focus on Varma’s core operations", says Hanna Kaskela.
First voluntary sustainability report under simplified standards to be published in early 2027
Our operations are guided by our newly updated sustainability programme, and annual reporting will support the monitoring of its progress.
We will publish our first voluntary sustainability report, aligned with the simplified standards and covering the current financial year, in early 2027.