The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) determines which companies report under European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), what their sustainability statements must cover and how that information is prepared for assurance. The 2026 simplification changes make scope and timing the first questions to settle.
Choose the route that matches your role. Start with legal scope and deadlines, move into ESRS and materiality, build the evidence and controls, or use the adjacent guides when the pressure comes through customers, lenders or supply-chain rules.
Choose where to start
Browse the complete CSRD and reporting guide directory
All CSRD and reporting guides
| Guide | Best for | What it helps you understand |
|---|---|---|
| Sustainability reporting deadlines 2026 | Reporting, finance, procurement and compliance teams | The key CSRD, UK SRS, SDR, EUDR, CBAM and CSDDD dates, plus what evidence needs to exist before those dates bite. |
| CSRD explained: complete 2026 guide | Founders, finance teams, ESG leads and advisers | Scope, Omnibus changes, ESRS, double materiality, UK exposure, assurance and readiness steps. |
| CSRD for UK companies | UK businesses with EU activity | When EU rules can still matter for UK groups, subsidiaries, branches and suppliers. |
| ESRS explained | Reporting teams and advisers | How the European Sustainability Reporting Standards turn CSRD into disclosure topics, double materiality and evidence requirements. |
| EU ESRS simplification 2026 | Reporting, procurement and supplier-facing teams | What the revised ESRS and value-chain cap change for CSRD reports, supplier requests and voluntary sustainability evidence. |
| ESRS E1 climate change explained | Reporting, finance, audit and sustainability teams | What the climate standard asks companies to disclose on transition plans, emissions, energy, carbon credits and climate-related financial effects. |
| Climate scenario analysis explained | Reporting, finance, risk and pension readers | How scenario analysis tests transition risk, physical risk, assumptions and strategy resilience. |
| VSME explained | Smaller suppliers, finance teams and advisers | How voluntary SME sustainability reporting can turn repeated customer, bank and investor requests into a reusable evidence file. |
| CDP disclosure explained | Suppliers, reporting teams and investor-relations teams | How CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) requests, scores and environmental disclosure data connect to customer, investor and reporting evidence. |
| GRI Standards explained | Reporting, sustainability and procurement teams | How Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) impact reporting differs from ESRS, ISSB and customer evidence requests. |
| CSDDD explained | Legal, procurement, sustainability and transaction teams | How the EU due-diligence law changed after Omnibus, who is in scope and why supply-chain evidence still matters. |
| ESG reporting frameworks compared | Reporting and compliance teams | How ESRS, ISSB (International Sustainability Standards Board), GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) and SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) differ and where they overlap. |
| ISSB, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 explained | Reporting teams, finance teams and advisers | How the investor-focused global baseline differs from CSRD, TCFD, GRI and broader impact reporting. |
| South Korea ESG reporting rules from 2028 | Reporting teams, finance teams and Korean listed groups | Which companies enter mandatory disclosure in 2028 and 2029, when Scope 3 begins and how assurance is being phased. |
| SASB Standards explained | Reporting teams, finance teams and data owners | How 77 industry standards, disclosure topics and metrics fit with IFRS S1, IFRS S2 and materiality decisions. |
| ESG data room checklist | Operators, finance teams and scale-ups | Which policies, metrics, evidence, controls and source documents to gather. |
| ESG due diligence checklist | Investors and acquirers | How ESG evidence connects to transaction risk, controls, compliance and greenwashing. |
| UK SRS and IFRS S2 climate disclosures | UK climate disclosure readers | How UK sustainability reporting may align with international climate disclosure standards. |
| Double materiality assessment guide | Reporting leads and advisers | How to assess impact and financial materiality under ESRS and document the decision trail. |
| CSRD gap analysis checklist | Companies moving from awareness to implementation | How to identify missing data, weak controls, unclear owners and assurance gaps. |
| ESG assurance explained | Finance, audit and sustainability teams | The difference between limited and reasonable assurance, what the scope tells readers and which evidence providers may test. |
| Sustainability reporting software | Teams assessing tools and vendors | What UK companies should check before buying reporting or carbon accounting software. |
| Scope 3 supplier data collection | Procurement and sustainability teams | What to ask suppliers for and how to assess data quality without overclaiming. |
Why CSRD matters
CSRD is not just another ESG (environmental, social and governance) acronym. It changes how sustainability information is scoped, evidenced, controlled and assured. The rules have also changed enough that many older CSRD explainers are now incomplete or misleading. A business needs to know both the original direction of travel and the latest simplification changes.
The practical challenge is evidence. Reporting teams need to move from narrative sustainability updates to structured, auditable information across climate, environment, workforce, value chain, governance and business conduct topics. That means policies, data owners, methodology notes, controls, board oversight and repeatable reporting processes.
How to use these guides
Start with scope before process. A company that is directly in scope needs a different plan from a supplier that is only being asked for data by a customer. A UK group with EU subsidiaries needs a different analysis from a UK-only SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) responding to buyer questionnaires. The main CSRD explainer sets the context; the UK companies guide then helps separate direct legal exposure from commercial pressure; the Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for non-listed small and medium-sized enterprises (VSME) guide explains the voluntary evidence route for smaller companies.
After scope, move to evidence. The double materiality guide helps decide which topics matter. The gap analysis checklist helps find missing data, owners and controls. The ESG data room checklist turns that work into organised evidence that can support reporting, diligence, tenders, CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) responses or investor conversations.
Core CSRD questions
- Is the company directly in scope under the latest thresholds?
- Could it be indirectly affected through EU customers, investors, subsidiaries or branches?
- Has it completed a documented double materiality assessment?
- Which ESRS topics are material and which are not?
- Who owns the underlying ESG data?
- Which metrics are measured, estimated or unavailable?
- Can the company evidence policies, controls, governance and sign-off?
- How does climate disclosure connect to Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions?
Preparation sequence
- Confirm whether the company is directly in scope, indirectly affected or currently out of scope.
- Map group structure, EU operations, customers, investors and supplier requests.
- Run a proportionate double materiality assessment.
- Identify required ESRS topics and disclosures.
- Assign data owners across finance, operations, people, procurement and governance.
- Document assumptions, estimates, controls and sign-off.
- Prepare for assurance by keeping source evidence, not only final numbers.
CSRD evidence map
| Evidence area | Why it matters | Useful next guide |
|---|---|---|
| Scope and group structure | Determines whether direct reporting duties apply. | CSRD for UK companies |
| Double materiality | Determines which ESRS topics require detailed disclosure. | Double materiality guide |
| Climate and emissions data | Supports ESRS E1 and customer Scope 3 requests. | ESRS E1 climate disclosure |
| SME customer and lender requests | Creates repeatable answers without copying a full CSRD report. | VSME explained |
| Policies and controls | Supports assurance and repeatability. | ESG assurance explained |
| Reporting controls and data lineage | Shows how each sustainability metric moves from source data to owner review, sign-off and assurance evidence. | Sustainability reporting controls |
| Investor and buyer diligence | Turns reporting weakness into commercial risk. | ESG due diligence checklist |
| Supply-chain due diligence | Shows how severe human rights and environmental risks are identified, prioritised and evidenced. | CSDDD explained |
| Deforestation and commodity traceability | Turns covered commodity origin, legality and geolocation evidence into a market-access question. | EUDR explained |
Bottom line
CSRD readiness is not just about writing a report. It is about knowing whether you are in scope, understanding what changed in 2026, and building evidence, governance and repeatable data processes that can stand up to scrutiny.