CSRD compliance: An essential checklist for effective reporting
Complying with the Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD) is a complex process that requires companies to implement a well-defined strategy and equip themselves with software to simplify data collection and ensure their reliability. Here is the checklist to follow in order to meet all the necessary steps for a company’s compliance with the CSRD.
1. Understand CSRD requirements
- Familiarize yourself with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and its reporting obligations.
- Identify where your company falls within the scope of the CSRD and when you should start preparing for CSRD reporting.
2. Conduct a Double Materiality analysis:
- Perform a double materiality analysis to identify the relevant environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues that impact your company and stakeholders, and vice versa.
- For this, you can rely on the EFRAG guideline for implementing the materiality assessment.
3. Gap analysis and Data Collection:
- Assess existing data related to ESG factors and measure their accuracy and alignment with CSRD requirements (see the ESRS).
- Identify gaps in internal data collection and reporting processes.
4. Define you company’s ambition in reporting:
- Define your company’s sustainability disclosure ambition based on relevant reporting standards.
- Implement missing policies, targets, and metrics.
- Establish a reporting structure for the integrated report and approval process.
5. Data Source Identification:
- Identify appropriate data sources to meet CSRD reporting requirements.
6. Selection of Sustainability Software:
- To simplify data collection and ensure their reliability, select a tool – software – for reporting that complies with CSRD requirements and is aligned with your company’s needs. (Visit the kShuttle website to discover CSR Insight, our solution designed for CSR reporting)
- If necessary, seek the help of industry experts to select the software.
7. Assessment of the new software’s impact on Internal IT Systems:
- Understand the CSRD-related needs for data collection, management, and analysis.
- Evaluate the maturity of your information systems, the necessary improvements, and specific considerations for successful integration of the CSR reporting software.
8. Software Integration:
- Define the schedule for implementing the software: resources, timeframes, stakeholders involved.
- Set up the software to suit your company: definition of entities, selection of indicators, incorporation of historical data, etc.
9. Produce quality CSR Reporting
- Encourage involvement from all business units.
- Train employees to use the software effectively.
- Collect relevant data (define consistency checks, encourage the collection of qualitative information), prepare reports and have them verified.
10. Change Management:
- Develop a change management strategy to involve the entire organization (and all employees) in the reporting process.
- Ensure the buy-in of all stakeholders for successful adoption of the software.
11. Collaboration with Stakeholders:
- Improve data collection and transparency throughout the supply chain.
- Encourage a project-based approach, identify the right levels of collection, set up different user profiles for the software, with appropriate levels of responsibility and access.
12. Budget Planning:
- Allocate a budget covering licensing fees, implementation, support, functional assistance, and other relevant expenses related to the adoption of the software.
13. Streamlining the reporting process:
- Leverage the capabilities of the software to streamline the reporting process and avoid unnecessary complexity.
- Ensure that the software supports data validation and accuracy checks.
14. Regular Review and Improvement:
- Regularly review reporting practices and make improvements based on user feedback, identified best practices, and regulatory developments.
- Update the software to reflect changes in reporting requirements.
15. Finalization of Reports:
- Prepare and finalize your CSRD sustainability reports using the software: data exports, reporting templates compliant with regulatory requirements, etc.
16. Submission and Compliance:
- Submit your sustainability reports within the prescribed deadlines and ensure your compliance with the CSRD.
17. Ongoing Monitoring and Disclosure (Voluntary Reporting):
- Continuously monitor your company’s sustainability performance using the reporting and analysis features of the software.
- Use the software for voluntary reporting to communicate your CSR commitments.
And remember, compliance with the CSRD is more than an obligation: it’s an opportunity to be at the forefront of sustainability.
