Though our clients are working on their first reports aligned with ESRS, it's still incredibly interesting to read about how other companies are doing in their reporting journeys. Huge thanks to EFRAG and all involved for gathering such information and sharing it with the community.
While the report is easy to read, we want to share the top 3 things that totally match our conclusions and observations during ESRS standards analysis and implementation in our software.
(1) Double Materiality Assessment - you can do it in plenty of different ways.
There is no one standard way to perform a Double Materiality Assessment. You would use the same components (workshops, surveys, internal judgments, etc.) and put them together in a way that works for you. However, the result of an assessment, on the other hand, must answer the most important question: "What sustainability matters are material to your company."
(2) The complexity of retrieving data
You conduct a DMA, you select corresponding Disclosure Requirements, you choose corresponding Data Points... And then you have to fill them in with the appropriate information. Do you have it somewhere in systems or in documents, or maybe you have to create it from scratch to comply the next year?
The AI tools are a truly excellent way to find and extract information quickly. You could literally save days and weeks using the right tools.
(3) Value Chain... 🤯
... the least developed area for companies. And it will stay that way for a while. Companies are still working to refine their value chain mapping, looking for the right balance of granularity. We tend to agree with the opinion: "Start with a simplified aggregated mapping of the value chain - i.e., upstream, downstream, and own operations only." And then year by year improve the mapping with more granularity.
On our platform, we provide a visual Value Chain board to facilitate data management. This board can be populated based on a company's current data maturity level.
*informative example screenshot
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