The study on the sustainability disclosures of 100 influential companies from high-impact sectors provides an early reflection on the general readiness for businesses in the EU to meet the expectations of the upcoming EU sustainability rules and standards. Our report contributes to identifying the main challenges, as well as to highlight emerging good practices.
Following the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), large companies will start to report in accordance with the first set of sector-agnostic European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) in 2025.
This legal framework was adopted to enhance and modernise companies reporting on sustainability matters, with the objective of addressing a market failure in providing relevant, comparable and decision-useful sustainability information.
We assessed the presence and quality of key disclosures according to the requirements and expectations of the EU Sustainability Reporting Standards on:
We examined sustainability statements of 100 influential EU companies in top 5 high-impacts sectors prioritised for the development of EU sector standards: Textiles, Finance, Road Transportation, Energy, Food & Beverage.
The evidence and recommendations drawn from this research aims to support
On November 19, we will hold a webinar presenting the key findings and recommendations of the study. We will also put in context the main aspects gaining attention in the political sphere.
Look forward to hearing from:
Are you interested in participating in a project with global impact? Are you tempted to use your expertise and presentation skills to promote systemic changes at EU level for the protection of the environment, climate and human rights? Do you want to deal with partners and policy makers in Brussels and strategically develop an international platform working together to strengthen corporate responsibility?
The collaboration between the Purpose of the Corporation Project led by Frank Bold and the Modern Corporation Project run by Jeroen Veldman and Hugh Willmott from Cass Business School has won the 2019 International Impactful Collaboration Award.
The experience with the implementation of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) and the analysis of the current status of companies’ sustainability reporting indicates that without clearer legal requirements, no guidance, no matter how good, will have substantial effect on the quality of companies reporting.
