The European Banking Authority has published the draft methodology, templates and template guidance for the 2027 EU-wide stress test and opened an earlier-than-usual industry consultation. The package simplifies the exercise while preserving comparability and risk sensitivity, chiefly by reducing reporting demands and aligning the test more closely with harmonised supervisory reporting, and it introduces climate risk through a dedicated module. The exercise will cover 63 banks from the European Union and Norway, including 47 from the euro area, representing 75% of the EU banking sector. The draft cuts required data points by 55% compared with the previous EBA EU-wide stress test. It simplifies stress test definitions and removes datapoints or templates that overlap with regular supervisory reporting, with the aim of reducing duplication and administrative burden while improving data consistency, comparability and quality for supervisors. For the first time, transition and physical climate risks will be assessed in a structured way alongside macro-financial shocks, but the climate module will not affect the core stress test results at this stage. As in previous exercises, the results will feed into the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process. The early release is intended to help stakeholders assess the combined impact of the revised stress test methodology and the broader review of the Implementing Technical Standards on supervisory reporting, which includes a stress test reporting module. The European Banking Authority plans a series of industry workshops to address questions and support preparations. Its Board of Supervisors will finalize the scenarios, methodology, quality assurance practices, templates and guidance, while the European Systemic Risk Board and the European Central Bank will develop the adverse macroeconomic and climate risk scenario.