In Charts: How companies are gearing up for CSRD reporting

Companies needing to meet the demands of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive should focus on identifying reporting gaps and finding the best ways to fill them, but data suggests many are only just getting started

Data from Greenomy, an environmental, social and governance reporting platform, shows that large companies are gearing up to meet the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive’s obligations, but many are struggling with the level of detail demanded by the rules.

From January 2025, reports from 50,000 companies will be due on 2024 financial year data, under the CSRD that was agreed by the EU in November 2022.

Greenomy surveyed about 100 companies active in a range of sectors – including manufacturing, real estate, retail and technology – and across Germany, France and the Benelux countries to assess their readiness for the new reporting rules.

A majority (57.7 per cent) were found to have a well-defined, group-wide ESG strategy, with nearly half (49.8 per cent) having more than three full-time team members dedicated to their ESG strategy. Nearly a third of the companies surveyed (26.9 per cent) revealed a more modest team of two, while 3.8 per cent did not have a dedicated ESG team in place.

More than half of respondents (53.8 per cent) said they have identified a dedicated team or individual responsible for CSRD compliance.

More than 70 per cent of the companies (73.1 per cent) said they were in the initial planning phases of their “CSRD compliance journey”, Greenomy found. Above 74 per cent said they know what data they are required to collect for their CSRD reporting, but less than half (41 per cent) said they had carried out the double materiality assessment required under the regulation.

Similarly, 53.8 per cent of the corporates surveyed said they had not yet started a gap analysis to identify the difference between current company policies, processes and disclosures, and those required by the CSRD.

The survey also found that while 61.5 per cent of the surveyed companies were moderately prepared to handle the new CSRD data requirements, 30.8 per cent were entirely unprepared to meet the regulation’s data collection demands. Similar levels of preparedness, and unpreparedness, were observed when it came to processing and analysing these data points, Greenomy said.

Many companies are also relying on simple methods of data storage rather than using newer, more innovative systems, the survey found.

The CSRD mandates the disclosure of Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. A “significant” 88.5 per cent of those surveyed indicated their reliance on Excel spreadsheets to store greenhouse gas emissions data, with only 19.2 per cent utilising software-as-a-service solutions, according to Greenomy. Around 3.8 per cent apparently did not perceive the necessity of storing any of their GHG data.