Did you know that there are around 1200 data points and 80 information blocks that need to be calculated, reported, updated and continuously followed up according to the new EU directive CSRD?
Regardless of whether you choose to bring in a sustainability system for your reporting or not, CSRD / ESRS requires the handling of a lot of data. It will require both data that already exists in the company, as well as data and information that needs to be created for this purpose. Your sustainability work, both what you do well and what you can improve, must be presented in the annual report and be able to show change over time. It must also be clear how the values were calculated and from which sources the data comes from.
In order not to only increase costs, which reporting according to ESRS undoubtedly entails, a smart, sustainable and effective way of working according to CSRD can generate business opportunities that balance the increased costs.
Business Intelligence, BI, has long been used to create better understanding and thereby lead to better and more effective decisions. For sustainability, it is no different. Business analysis with the help of BI, however, requires organized data, but the sources can be anything from Excel to business systems. What BI is good for, in addition to business analysis, is to create a better understanding of the scope, and control, of your data, as well as the quality it maintains.
The focus today in the transition to CSRD is to get past the first peak, to create good working methods for collecting data and get routine on it. Here, BI is invaluable. BI helps you create flows for automatic uploading to your sustainability system and quality assures measured values before they are used in your reporting.
Working with data is simplified with the help of BI and thus contributes to more effective sustainability work. This in turn results in lower costs compared to resources doing the same work completely manually.
After you reach the first peak, you now see the second one in front of you, to find new business opportunities through your sustainability focus. These opportunities exist. Some are easy to see, but perhaps difficult to implement. Others are the opposite, difficult to find, but once you understand how it fits together, they are quite easy to implement.
Bringing in external consultants early, who have both long experience of sustainability and how you implement the changes in the best way, can have a major impact on how much your costs will increase from CSRD. And how quickly you will be able to generate new business opportunities.
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