Drinking from the fire hose: Are companies struggling to cope with the scale, complexity and reach of the CSRD requirements?
3 MINUTE READ | WORDS BY NIGEL SALTER
A consultation to gather views on the reality of CSRD implementation from the people working through it right now.
With over 40,000 companies getting to grips with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive – commonly known as CSRD - the reality of what is required is dawning – and what we’re hearing isn’t exactly all positive!
We’re in the thick of it with most of our clients. It’s definitely their highest priority of the moment. It’s taking huge amounts of time and resource to work through and get ready for the new requirements. If you listen carefully, on some days you can actually hear the yelps, cries for help and screams of frustration from some of the people working through the practical realities and implications.
Let’s be clear…
…we are fully supportive of the overall ambition and intention of the CSRD and it’s probably something most sustainability (and many finance professionals) have, at some point, said they’d want to see introduced in some form.
But is this really what we expected? We’re certainly hearing a lot of people question the complexity, the scale of the requirements and the speed at which it all has to be implemented. The approach to Double Materiality seems to be different in every single company and is proving to be very difficult for companies to navigate. And a particular criticism we’ve heard is focused on the guidance - that actually doesn’t guide all that much and leaves so much open to interpretation.
With all this swirling around, and this being such a high priority in the world of sustainability right now - and taking up such a large amount of time and resource - we want to test the temperature and gather some real-time views, insights, and experience on some of these issues.
Our objective is simple: to gather the views of some of the most senior sustainability and finance professionals at this key moment in time, as the realities of the CSRD requirements are being worked through. We want to hear what the views are and, if necessary, identify recommendations and ideas that could be represented back to EFRAG and shared with others to stimulate the debate and push for improvements.
It won’t take much of your time (20 minutes max) and so if you’d like to participate either to share your pain or offer positive support, please reach out to Nigel or Phoebe on LinkedIn or via email at phoebe.whittome@sbandco.com.
For info: We’re also running training and awareness session for Boards, Committees and Exec teams to help them understand the changes ahead. If you think this could help your company please contact nigel.salter@sbandco.com.
Nigel Salter
Nigel has over 25 years’ experience advising global corporations on sustainability strategy and communications. His experience covers many sectors and all regions. He also chairs, leads or sits on multiple sustainability advisory boards and panels and is retained strategic counsel to several senior management teams.
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