November 4, 2024//LEFF Sustainability Group//Katie Parry

Key insights from our virtual event: How CSRD and other reporting mandates can fuel your sustainability content strategy

The year 2025 will usher in a new era of ESG reporting requirements and expectations, with the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) set to change the landscape of sustainability communications—likely forever. To help companies get ahead of these changes, the LEFF Sustainability Group hosted a recent virtual event that brought together three experts in this field: Ed Packshaw, head of ESG risk, reporting, and communications at Simply Sustainable; Lane Jost, managing director and head of ESG advisory at Edelman Smithfield; and… me (Katie Parry), director of LEFF’s Sustainability Group.

If you missed our event, don’t worry. This is the first in a series of two blog posts covering some of the highlights of our conversation. You can also follow LEFF on LinkedIn to make sure you’re among the first to hear about future events.

This blog post covers five insights into the likely effect of regulatory developments on how companies think and talk about ESG, and into the communications opportunities that these shifts will bring.

1. CSRD’s aims are nothing short of revolutionary

CSRD lays out a detailed framework for both what non-financial information companies need to disclose and how they need to disclose it. For the first time, companies will need to integrate financial and nonfinancial disclosures. And they’ll need to report both on how ESG issues affect the financial performance of their company and the effects their company has on society and the environment, which is referred to as double materiality.

CSRD-compliant reporting therefore represents a profound change for companies. And it was designed to be. As Lane Jost said, “CSRD is really a continuation of the EU’s attempt to really transform Europe into a net-zero economy. The overarching ambition is to build a more sustainable version of capitalism.”

This won’t just affect companies in scope for CSRD; a recent Workiva survey found that more than 80 percent of companies not subject to CSRD still intend to align some or all of their reporting strategies with the legislation.

2. CSRD can help companies manage risk and build business value

As Ed Packshaw argued, “The primary audience for your CSRD report is not the EU. It’s the stakeholders in your business. [CSRD] is about understanding what types of risks and opportunities could be relevant for you.” He gave the hypothetical example of a company located by a river that is now at risk of flooding, which could cause problems with shipping and facilities. CSRD would provide an ideal opportunity for the company to analyze the level of risk and likely financial impact, as well as strategies to manage that risk.

Lane has found that the internal conversations prompted by reporting mandates such as CSRD can help companies identify strategic opportunities to develop new products. He gave the example of Zillow, which has recently introduced climate-risk data on for-sale property listings across the US. That’s now a differentiator for Zillow—and it’s also helping businesses and individuals make better decisions.

3. CSRD can also help build an internal coalition to advance ESG issues

Many companies have had a single sustainability lead or—at best—a sustainability team. CSRD, and the double-materiality assessment in particular, forces cross-functional collaboration on sustainability in a way that will be new to many firms. In Ed’s experience, representatives from procurement, sales, strategy, and other departments start these conversations with the mindset that they are not involved in sustainability but will gradually realize that the topic is core to much of what they do. Lane has found that the most effective conversations happen when companies engage internally on ESG issues as an innovation topic rather than a compliance topic.

4. Finding the right narratives is central to capturing value from CSRD—but it’s hard

If companies are to capture the opportunities described in the previous two subsections, their stakeholders will need to both understand and buy into the key findings of CSRD-related work. This won’t always be straightforward. CSRD-compliant companies will have a lot of data—perhaps as much as 1,000 data points—but they may not have the resources and experience to turn that into compelling storytelling. As Ed argued, sustainability practitioners are often scientifically minded. They are comfortable talking about the technical details of standards and carbon footprints, but these aren’t the sort of tangible issues that motivate the average stakeholder. To communicate effectively, companies will need communications specialists with a keen eye for the sorts of stories that will connect.

5. Most companies are not yet equipped to handle new ESG reporting mandates

ESG reporting and related communications are a huge endeavor, particularly with the advent of CSRD; a 2024 study from the IBM Institute for Business Value revealed that companies are now spending 43 percent more on sustainability reporting than on sustainability-related innovation. Vanishingly few companies possess the internal resources necessary to handle this challenge. To avoid being caught out—and to make the most of the opportunities these new mandates represent—companies should think early and strategically about how they’re going to govern and manage their sustainability communications.

Overall, our panelists agreed that we are entering a brave new world of sustainability communications. We at LEFF can’t wait to see all the creative ways in which our clients will rise to that challenge—and to help them along the way. The next blog in this series will cover our panelists’ key strategies for leveraging the new reports to build long-term brand value.

Want to find out more? Get in touch with LEFF sustainability director Katie Parry.

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Allan elevates thought leadership with a veteran editor’s perspective on distinctive content and a journalist’s eye for trends in world events. He began his career as a writer and editor covering business, economics, and the environment for the Tallahassee Democrat, the Miami Herald, The New York Times, and The International Herald Tribune in Paris. Allan went on to work at McKinsey & Company for more than 20 years in Europe, Asia, and North America, where he specialized in emerging markets and shaped global thought leadership as editor in chief and editorial board member of the McKinsey Quarterly. At LEFF, Allan works with colleagues and clients to launch new projects, and he uses his expertise to support the professional development of LEFF’s team of editors.

 

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