Interesting solutions from inside the CSRD Climate Reports
Dr. Jane Thostrup Jagd, Director Net Zero Finance
Last year, we published the Early Adopters’ CSRD Reporting report. In response, we received a lot of positive feedback, not least of all for how inspiring it was to see interesting and unusual reporting solutions.
Reporting year 2024 marks the first year that the EU’s CSRD came into force for large, listed EU companies, with reports published in spring 2025. From our conversations with companies, auditors – and investors – it’s clear there is value in once again reviewing these new reports to understand how companies are responding to the legislation. So, here it is (pdf).
This year, we’ve chosen to review the CSRD reports of the 100 largest listed EU companies – a shift from last year’s approach, where we focused only on 30 CSRD reports we just happened to know of. This allows us to provide some statistical insights. However, while our sample covers approximately 9% of the All-Country World Index (MSCI ACWI) market capitalization as of 31 December 2024 — and is therefore meaningful — we also refer readers to other studies in the market that analyse much larger sets of reports. These analyses are often AI-generated and typically focus on metrics such as how frequently specific IROs are addressed or the number of pages a CSRD report contains. If that’s the information you›re seeking, there are plenty of such resources available.
This report is different. Our aim is not to summarize averages or typical reporting practices – but to highlight new, interesting, and unusual reporting solutions that may inspire companies, their auditors, and investors. For this reason, we have deliberately avoided using AI in this analysis. All 100 reports have been manually reviewed and thoughtfully curated by humans.
The overarching goal of We Mean Business Coalition is to help companies halve their emissions by 2030. That’s why we take a particular interest in climate-related reporting – and why this is a central focus for this review. We are equally interested in how capital can be moved to support the most ambitious and green companies. For this, investors and other capital providers need high-quality reporting. Accordingly, we also examine aspects like internal controls, restatements, and assurance within the CSRD reports, just as we constantly look for investor-useful and user-friendly reporting practice.
Not all 100 companies report in particularly new or interesting ways, so we have not included examples from every single report. However, we have provided links to all 100 reports at the end of this publication, so readers can review them in full for themselves. Each chapter begins with a reference to the main regulations and guidelines relevant to the topic – though these are not intended to be comprehensive summaries. We encourage readers to consult the original regulations directly, and we’ve included links to these in the endnotes.
We hope you find this report inspiring.