Frank Bold’s research shows significant improvement in corporate disclosures largely due to the standardisation brought by the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Companies are reporting ambitious climate targets and disclosing clearer, more comparable and meaningful sustainability information.
EU policy-makers are negotiating drastic changes proposed by the EU Commission to water down these rules as part of the first Omnibus on Simplification. The sudden U-turn and rushed legal process risks undermining momentum among the business community. Weakening the EU laws would roll back the progress made on transparency, data quality, and long-term climate planning at a time when consistency and ambition are most critical.
Our analysis shows how companies are responding to EU sustainability legislation, revealing positive developments in the transparency and quality of disclosures while also highlighting some persisting challenges:
Our analysts reviewed and assessed the sustainability information disclosed by 50 influential companies from the financial, textile, energy, agrifood and beverages, pharmaceuticals, mining and transportation sectors.
The complete research will be released this September, alongside a compilation of best practices.
Businesses require clarity, certainty, and stability to invest in sustainability reporting systems that meet market and stakeholder demands. The proposed rollbacks threaten not only environmental progress but also the credibility of EU leadership in sustainable finance. To preserve the achievements of the past decade and foster a forward-looking and competitive business environment, policy-makers in the EU Parliament must reject measures that weaken the CSRD and CSDDD and instead reinforce their consistent, effective application.
If you have any questions about the preliminary findings, or would like to share inputs, please get in touch with Susanna Arus at susanna.arus@frankbold.org or Lorena Bisignano at lorena.bisignano@frankbold.org.
Meeting the goal of the European Green Deal to achieve no net GHG emissions by 2050 requires at least half trillion euros of additional investments in the EU every year and will involve significant market and regulatory changes targeting every sector of the economy. This will profoundly change how companies and their directors need to integrate sustainability concerns in their strategies and business decisions.
Frank Bold organised two online events to present the results of the research on the disclosures made by 300 companies on climate and environmental matters providing targeted presentation and insights for companies in Southern Europe and Central and Eastern Europe.
On Tuesday, October 6th, Filip Gregor, Head of our Responsible Companies section spoke at the conference on ‘Global Supply Chains - Global Responsibility: Human Rights and Decent Work in Global Supply Chains’ organised by the German Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on the occasion of the German EU Council presidency.
