Sustainability reporting as a driver of performance: EcoVadis learning from its voluntary CSRD exercise
At EcoVadis, our purpose is to: Guide all companies toward a sustainable world. Living this purpose starts with leading by example. We believe sustainability reporting frameworks are essential drivers of business performance through the increased transparency they create, and the greater resilience they foster through the better environmental and social outcomes secured.
We believe that smart, balanced regulations can create a virtuous cycle by rewarding companies with robust sustainability practices. That’s why at EcoVadis we voluntarily adopted CSRD standards in 2024, ahead of legal requirements, and we continue to report under the regulation despite the legal deadlines having been postponed.
In this blog, we share with you why we chose to act early, and most importantly, what we’ve learned along the way. We hope that sharing our experience will support other companies on their CSRD journey and inspire wider adoption of this new corporate sustainability reporting standard.
Furthermore, we hope our example of remaining committed to CSRD amid current regulatory uncertainty encourages others to remain steadfast in their dedication to sustainability and transparency, even if regulations no longer require them to do so. It is our strong belief that embarking on this journey is worthwhile for companies of all sizes.
Why Did EcoVadis Report Early?
While EcoVadis is not yet legally required to comply with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), we made a strategic decision to align with it voluntarily. Why? Because transparency is a powerful accelerator for sustainability performance.
As a global ESG ratings provider, we help thousands of companies measure and improve their sustainability performance. To remain credible and impactful in that mission, we believe we must also set the bar high in our own actions, including transparency in reporting. Aligning with CSRD gives us the opportunity to lead the way in best-practice, transparent, and comprehensive sustainability disclosure.
How CSRD Can Drive Sustainability Performance
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) has the potential to become a powerful catalyst for improving sustainability performance—if it is integrated strategically into business planning. It’s essential to move beyond viewing CSRD as merely a data collection exercise.
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At the heart of impactful implementation lies a robust double materiality assessment, which remains a cornerstone of the EU’s reporting framework
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Equally important is ensuring strong governance across all material topics, enabling companies to manage them with consistency and accountability. CSRD also calls for identifying synergies and potential negative interactions between sustainability topics—an opportunity to embed these insights into risk registers and improvement plans.
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Board engagement is another critical element; CSRD opens the door for sustainability teams to secure a regular seat at the decision-making table.
When used as a strategic driver, CSRD can deliver competitive advantage and enhance long-term sustainability outcomes. In this context, we welcome some of the Omnibus changes aimed at simplifying the prescriptiveness of and streamlining qualitative disclosures. Excessive narrative detail risks diluting the key messages and distracting stakeholders from the most important metrics and KPIs. A focused, strategy-driven approach to CSRD will help companies achieve both compliance and meaningful sustainability impact.
The new CSRD framework offers a unique opportunity to reflect more deeply on our sustainability impacts, risks/opportunities, and progress. And as we discovered, it's also a catalyst for innovation, governance, and collaboration across the business.
Our 5 Key Learnings from the CSRD Journey
1. Start Early and Allocate Sufficient Resources
Although we already had a strong reporting foundation aligned with GRI standards, preparing a CSRD-compliant report required a significant step up—in both time and complexity.
The process took over 15 months, involving numerous cross-functional teams and external assurance providers. In its current form, the enhanced focus on qualitative disclosures, double materiality, and granular data meant we had to dive deeper than ever before. Our biggest takeaway? Start early. And don’t underestimate the resources needed. Building in the time and capacity for detailed work ensures that reporting remains meaningful, accurate, and manageable. On the bright side, there will be a steep learning curve and reporting in following years will require significantly less time if done correctly the first time around.
2. Invest in Internal Capability Building
Sustainability reporting is no longer a once-a-year task. It’s a continuously evolving, strategic function. That’s why building strong internal capabilities—both in terms of knowledge and systems—is critical.
By investing in internal skills and optimizing processes, we’ve been able to move from simply “checking boxes” to viewing CSRD as a strategic enabler. With the right tools and understanding, reporting becomes a forward-looking tool—one that can help identify areas for improvement, inform goal setting, and ultimately, drive greater impact.
3. Use CSRD to Strengthen Sustainability Management Systems
CSRD helped us take a fresh look at our sustainability management systems. A major milestone was conducting our first double materiality assessment, which revealed valuable insights into our most significant impacts—both in terms of how we affect people and the environment, and how sustainability issues affect our business.
This assessment allowed us to identify gaps and recalibrate targets where needed. As a result, we’re now building stronger action plans across key areas and developing an even more focused and resilient sustainability strategy.
4. Integrate Sustainability into Risk Management
One powerful outcome of our CSRD work was initiating our first climate risk assessment. This exercise marked an important step toward integrating sustainability into our broader risk management framework.
Sustainability risks and opportunities are now being embedded into the company’s risk registers and reviewed alongside other key business risks. This integration ensures that sustainability isn’t siloed—it becomes part of our everyday strategic decision-making.
5. Unlock New Collaborations and Strengthen Governance
Perhaps one of the most rewarding aspects of our CSRD journey has been the unprecedented level of cross-functional collaboration it sparked. Our Finance and Impact teams led the reporting process together, working in close partnership with HR, Legal, Marketing, Risk & Compliance, and others.
This co-ownership model not only enhanced the report’s quality and coherence, but also forged stronger links between financial performance and sustainability goals. It also opened the door to deeper engagement with our Board of Directors on key sustainability topics.
What emerged is a more integrated narrative; one that aligns our impact ambitions with long-term value creation. Most importantly, this collaboration reinforced a critical message: sustainability is a collective responsibility.
Looking Ahead
While we are only at the beginning of our CSRD journey, choosing to act early has already provided valuable insights, deepened our internal capabilities, and laid the foundation for stronger, more strategic sustainability reporting.
We urge companies beginning their CSRD preparation or exploring its implications, to recognize that this effort is highly valuable. CSRD reporting is far more than a simple compliance obligation. It's a key opportunity to reflect, innovate, and catalyze significant change; not only within your organization but throughout your entire value chain.
We also encourage businesses not directly mandated by the CSRD to commit to sustainability reporting. Adopting transparent reporting, aligned with globally accepted standards such as GRI, can gain substantial benefits. It effectively builds stakeholder trust and actively promotes better sustainability and stronger overall business performance.
At EcoVadis, we are committed to sharing our experiences and key learnings to help you navigate this transition. Join us in leading with transparency to collectively move closer to a sustainable future.
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