Picture yourself standing on stage. The lights are bright. Rows of musicians sit in front of you; violins, cellos, brass, percussion. They’re waiting for your signal.
Now imagine that half the violinists are late, the trumpets are missing their sheet music, and the percussionist hasn’t tuned his drums in years. You raise your baton, but instead of music, all you hear is noise. That’s what Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) reporting feels like for many companies today.
The violins? That’s your emissions data – arriving too late to be useful.
The brass? Supply chain disclosures – incomplete and hard to verify.
The percussion? Social metrics – out of sync, not standardized.
On their own, each dataset is noisy and fragmented. Together, without coordination, they clash. But when disciplined, aligned, and rehearsed under one framework, they can produce a symphony- a credible, transparent sustainability report that regulators trust and investors can rely on.
The truth is, CSRD isn’t about playing a perfect symphony on day one. Investors and regulators don’t expect perfection on day one, but they do expect honesty about the gaps, discipline in how you rehearse, and a credible plan to improve with each performance.
Here are my reflections from the CSRD and Sustainability Event 2025 on how to bring order to the “music” of CSRD.
1. Don’t Wait for Perfect Notes, Play with What You Have
In every orchestra, the oboe plays first. Its clear A note is what every other instrument tunes to. Without that single reference point, the performance can’t even begin. CSRD reporting is no different. In CSRD reporting, data is that oboe. It doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to give you alignment.
Too many companies stall, chasing perfect numbers across suppliers and systems. But CSRD recognizes that perfection isn’t possible on day one and was built with reality in mind: complex value chains, third-party operators, and patchy coverage. They allow estimates and proxies, provided you’re transparent about your methods, scope, and improvement plan.
Early reports should be seen as rehearsals (sometimes rough, sometimes uneven) but valuable because they get you started. The real signal investors and regulators look for isn’t perfection, but whether your methods hold up to scrutiny and your story of improvement feels credible. Start with the oboe, i.e., the data you do have, even if it’s estimates or proxies. Publish, explain, improve. Alignment matters more than flawless tone at the start.
My mantra here: “Transparency beats latency. Start with the note you can play, not the one you’re waiting for.”
2. Percussion Sets the Rhythm & Keeps CSRD in Time
Think of an orchestra without percussion – no rhythm, no structure, just scattered noise and everyone plays at their own tempo. That’s what fragmented spreadsheets and mystery PDFs feel like in CSRD.
The fix is building a data acquisition framework that acts as your percussion section. It sets the tempo and holds the entire performance together. That means mapping out datapoints down to the requirement level, clarifying which are CSRD-critical and which are proxies, and most importantly embedding “data contracts” with suppliers. This isn’t about politely requesting numbers once a year. It’s about embedding expectations, formats, and frequency into supplier agreements, backed by automation that keeps flows timely and auditable.
When you have a percussion section keeping time, the rest of the orchestra knows where to come in and this structure turns scattered sounds into rhythm.
But even percussion can’t keep time on its own. Behind the scenes, you need a conductor’s council – strong governance. Every orchestra relies on a team of section leaders who check timing, alignment, and balance. In CSRD, this means creating cross-functional councils where finance, sustainability, IT, and operations meet to review quality, resolve discrepancies, and ensure accountability. Governance turns fragmented inputs into a reliable, coordinated performance. Without it, even the best percussionist can’t stop the horns from coming in late.
My Tip: “Percussion keeps the orchestra in time. In CSRD, that’s your data framework, it’s what turns chaos into rhythm.”
3. Decide Which Data Sources Deserve Center Stage
An orchestra without a conductor is just noise, every section competing for attention but not every instrument gets a solo. CSRD reporting without prioritization looks the same: thousands of datapoints competing for attention, no hierarchy, no story.
Double materiality is your conductor’s baton. It guides the orchestra, highlighting which datapoints deserve the solo, the ones that matter to both society and the P&L.
Every orchestra blends melody and rhythm. CSRD reporting requires the same balance between the impact lens and the financial lens.
Impact materiality asks: Who or what is affected, how severe, how likely?
Financial materiality asks: How does this affect cash flow, capex, and risk?
Where those two overlap is your A-list. Those are your first violins.
The rest of the datapoints still have a role, but they belong in the background, not at center stage. If a datapoint won’t change a decision or shift a stakeholder’s view, it doesn’t deserve a solo.
And just like any first violin must prove they can carry the melody, CSRD datapoints need evidence, not just perception. Under the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), surveys and sentiment aren’t enough, disclosures must be grounded in documented sources. Think of it like auditions:
- Primary documents are your star performers.
- Credible attestations are the understudies ready to step in.
- Proxies only take the stage when no one else can.
By clearly documenting your methods and setting regular review cycles, you make sure every note stands up to scrutiny and your performance stays audit-ready.
My mantra here: “Not every instrument deserves a solo. Give the spotlight to the sounds that change the music.”
4. Play the CSRD Score, Don’t Just Rehearse
Imagine rehearsing endlessly but never performing the full piece. It’s a waste of effort, right?
Rehearsals are important, but they’re not the performance. Too many companies treat CSRD like an annual checkbox, ending with a glossy PDF no one reuses. But real value emerges when the music leaves the rehearsal room. Sustainability data earns its keep when it drives decisions, when procurement tiers suppliers by emissions and ties progress to contracts; when operations use ISO-aligned analytics to cut freight costs and emissions together; when product design uses sustainability data to drive circularity and unlock new revenue.
That’s when compliance transforms into strategy. That’s when your ESG data becomes a score your entire business can perform to, with real outcomes investors and stakeholders can applaud.
My Mantra: “Reporting is the sheet music. Strategy is playing it out loud.”
🎶 Closing Note
Like an orchestra, CSRD reporting is not about every instrument being perfect from the first rehearsal. It’s about alignment, structure, and direction; starting with the oboe (your data), finding rhythm in a framework, following the conductor’s baton of double materiality, and building toward a crescendo where compliance becomes strategy.
As I said: “Start with what you have but be brutally honest about the gaps. Build transparency and improvement into your framework from day one. Use data contracts and automation to drive consistency and quality. Engage your people, make data on everyone’s business, not just the sustainability team’s. And always, always look for ways to turn compliance into competitive advantage.”
Because in the end, the real music of CSRD isn’t played in reports, it’s heard in the way businesses transform.
