The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) already has an impact

The importance of sustainability issues has increased significantly. 72% of companies surveyed have a sustainability strategy that is relevant to senior management, compared to just 24% before 2021. For 81% of companies with a sustainability strategy, it is integrated into the company's overall strategy.

For 70%, the expectations of their own customers are a key factor in changing their own sustainability strategy - more important than regulation (55%). Other important factors include marketing (53%) and investors (48%). CSRD requirements are already influencing operational decisions in 59% of companies. 

Who is in charge of implementation? Sustainability departments are responsible for implementing the CSRD in 42% of the companies surveyed. Accounting is responsible for 30% of the companies and controlling for 21%. In 63% of companies, the CSRD requirements are implemented by the same department that is responsible for implementing the EU taxonomy. 

64% of respondents said that both the complex technical implementation of the CSRD requirements and scarce resources were a challenge for their organisation. The high time pressure to implement the CSRD is an obstacle for one in two companies. For the vast majority of companies (74%), the technical complexity of implementing the CSRD requirements is mainly due to the fact that they have to consider the entire value chain. For 61%, the data base is also a challenge, while for just over half of companies it is a matter of interpretation (53%) and definition (52%). The need for reliable sustainability information is growing significantly, and financial and sustainability reporting are moving closer together in organisational terms. 

Just over half of companies (52%) plan to use software solutions for CSRD reporting, and 27% of these plan to use Excel - the most commonly cited solution, although not optimal as it does not allow for verifiable documentation. Just under one in five companies (19% of the 52%) plan to use dedicated sustainability software or ERP systems. 

Of the companies surveyed, 12% plan to base their sustainability reporting solely on the software solutions they already use for financial reporting. 30% intend to use additional or specially developed software for their non-financial reports to meet the requirements of the CSRD. Almost one in three respondents do not yet know which software solutions they will use. The differences between software solutions for CSRD reporting are still largely unknown. 

Half of companies do not want to have their sustainability reporting audited until it is mandatory. 22% already have their data audited with limited assurance and 13% with reasonable assurance. The companies that already have or plan to have their data audited intend to use their auditors (35%) or another audit firm (25%). 

58% of respondents intend to seek external advice on implementing the CSRD, while just under a third (29%) do not intend to do so. The majority (54%) of companies using external advice plan to use it for up to 30% of the implementation work. 

Six out of ten companies surveyed say that CSR reporting requirements are already having an impact on operational decisions such as investments. 24% say they have no impact and 15% are undecided. A quarter of companies expect future reporting requirements to lead to changes in their business portfolio. 

The impact of CSRD on operational decisions and business portfolio is significant. The CSRD/ESRS commitment to greater sustainability transparency already appears to be having a significant impact on business decisions, even though the reporting requirements are not yet complete and do not apply to all potentially affected companies. The call to act more sustainably has been heard, and companies have an ongoing task to embed sustainability in their strategy and operations for the long term.