CSRD and Sustainability: Ensuring IT Readiness

In our earlier blog, we described how Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) can be leveraged to accelerate companies' sustainability transformations. In this blog we will focus on IT’s role in ensuring CSRD readiness. 

Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive creates urgency to act – IT readiness is crucial 

The new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will become effective for Large public companies already in FY2024/2025. The new CSRD reporting requirements have broad impacts across companies’ IT systems – including e.g.: 

1. Need to collect, combine & create extensive amount of data across company’s IT infrastructure (e.g. SCM, HRM, EPM) to report on dozens of dimensions around Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) topics. 

2. Need for 3rd party interfaces to collect data from operations across the entire value chain (both up- & downstream), in addition to data from own operations.

3. Need to ensure limited assurance of the reported information.  

Exhibit 1: Examples of CSRD IT implications 

Furthermore, CSRD will also be followed by other sustainability regulation, most notably Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDDD) that is currently in the finalization phase. 

IT has an important role in enabling Sustainability Transformations – and the scope goes far beyond regulatory compliance  

While CSRD compliancy is the most urgent sustainability related topic IT organizations need to focus on, it is important to take a more holistic look at the role IT will have in supporting the companies’ sustainability journeys. As described in the Exhibit 2 below, IT has a crucial role in supporting companies’ overall sustainability transformations, as well as enabling new business models in the form of circular products & services and data ecosystems & ventures.   

Exhibit 2: Sustainability themes the IT organizations need to prepare for 

Getting a grip of Sustainability Data & Technology landscape 

As described above, the CSRD compliancy alone poses significant implications across the company’s data & technology landscape. However, as IT has a key role in enabling also company’s broader sustainability ambitions, it is important for every IT leader to ensure that they have at least a high-level understanding of these overall Sustainability needs when preparing for the CSRD implementation journey. 

At Impaktly we bridge IT, Sustainability and Business stakeholders to ensure successful implementation of sustainability transformations. Let’s ensure your technology landscape is set for a sustainable future!