European businesses tend to prioritise value chain analysis and risk assessment as key to their CSRD reporting, a new report by Deloitte has found.
The report, Beyond compliance: Observations on practices following Wave 1 of CSRD reporting, explored 200 CSRD reports from companies across 18 European countries, in a variety of sectors.
Value chain analysis and risk assessment were cited in eight out of ten reports, with companies reporting 7.6 material topics per report, on average.
‘Viable information’
At the same time, the report indicates that most firms had ‘difficulties in identifying and structuring viable information on sustainability topics, both within the organisation and in the relationship with suppliers and indirect collaborators,’ Deloitte noted.
This points to a need to create structured and transparent dialogue frameworks, it added.
Sector by sector
In the FMCG sector, companies tend to concentrate on supply chain transparency and adopting circular economy principles, with 90% of the 62 analysed firms mentioning a policy in this regard.
Companies in the energy and industrials sector, meanwhile, are focused on reducing Scope 3 emissions and setting net-zero targets, while financial services firms are actively integrating sustainability considerations into lending and investment decisions.
Notably, seven in ten banks surveyed had emissions targets in place, for five or more sectors, with real estate and electricity generation mentioned across the board.
Core principles
“The experience of companies that reported in the first wave of CSRD provides a valuable reference framework, governed by three core principles — structure, transparency and collaboration,” commented Ovidiu Popescu, partner, Deloitte Romania, leader of the energy and sustainability practices for Deloitte South-Eastern Europe.
“A solid annual report is only a milestone, while true performance is, in fact, about creating a repeatable and every-year less burdensome process, especially in a time where the sustainability regulatory framework is still mobile. From this perspective, the report emphasises the central role of dual materiality analysis as a permanent tool for tracking areas of opportunity and risk, as well as analysing and strengthening relationships with various categories of stakeholders along the value chains.
“These tools go far beyond compliance; they create vision and premises for growth, support strategic decisions and foster trust.” Read more here.
