Sustainability reporting at a turning point: Lessons from early adopters

Sustainability reporting reaches a turning point

2025 marked a major step for mandatory sustainability reporting. In Europe, approximately 1,000 companies issued their first disclosures under CSRD. There was also provisional agreement on elements of the European Commission’s Omnibus proposal, which will narrow the breadth of companies in scope for future years. 

Globally, jurisdictions including the UK, Canada and Australia advanced ISSB-aligned reporting frameworks.ⁱ In the US, California leads on climate disclosures; however, progress to implement has been slowed down due to legal challenge.

PwC’s Global Sustainability Reporting Survey is based on responses from 496 companies that have reported, or plan to do so in the future, under the CSRD or ISSB frameworks.ⁱⁱ The survey revealed that while some companies have paused reporting plans in response to regulatory changes, many are moving ahead regardless.

Irrespective of the regulatory environment, stakeholders such as investors, employees, and civil society groups want to know how companies are addressing sustainability‑related impacts, risks, and opportunities.

More than half of survey respondents say internal and external pressure to provide sustainability data and insights has increased over the last year, with fewer than 10% saying pressure has decreased.

Q: Over the last year, how has pressure from external and internal stakeholders to provide sustainability reporting/data changed?

More than a third of the companies represented in the survey had already published sustainability statements, mostly under CSRD. Many pointed to several factors that, in retrospect, would have improved the reporting process, including more effective use of technology, increased investment, greater cross‑functional collaboration and starting earlier.

More effective use of technology and software

As regulatory regimes evolve, Irish companies with operations across multiple territories face increasingly complex reporting demands, including overlapping and sometimes divergent disclosure requirements. Organisations must prioritise interoperability, understand where frameworks intersect or diverge, and build common data foundations to streamline sustainability reporting across jurisdictions.

Many companies are buying or building technology tools and infrastructure for efficient, repeatable reporting. Among those that have already reported, technology adoption has increased over the last year, with more than half now using central sustainability data storage, carbon calculation, and disclosure management tools.

The most common AI use cases relate to drafting or summarising disclosures, identifying risks and opportunities, and collecting, integrating, and validating data from multiple systems. For each use case, many more respondents are still exploring or piloting AI tools rather than embedding them into workflows, highlighting that most organisations remain at an early stage of adoption.

Q: Please indicate the extent to which your company used the following tools/technology for its prior year sustainability reporting and the extent to which it is using them this year.

(Showing only ‘To a very large extent,’ ‘To a large extent,’ and ‘To a moderate extent’ responses)

^{_{Note: Asked only of respondents whose company has reported in line with CSRD/ISSB. Source: PwC’s Global Sustainability Reporting Survey 2025}}

Considerations for Irish companies

Are we putting in place processes, supported by technology infrastructure, to make sustainability reporting a “business as usual” activity? The goal must be efficient, repeatable reporting over the long-term, while understanding the broader potential of AI beyond document summarisation.

Increased investment

About two‑thirds of companies have increased investment of resources and senior leadership time in sustainability reporting over the past year.

Considerations for Irish companies

Do we have the right senior leaders involved? Companies deriving significant value from sustainability data are more likely to have increased senior leadership engagement. Unlocking value requires active executive ownership to identify opportunities for value creation revealed through reporting.

Greater cross‑functional collaboration

Effective sustainability reporting is rarely the task of a single team. On average, ten functional groups were involved in responding to CSRD and ISSB requirements, commonly including HR, finance, procurement, operations, and legal.

Considerations for Irish companies

Is there a cross‑functional collaboration model that supports reporting readiness while embedding sustainability insights into decision‑making across risk management, supply chains, workforce planning, strategy, and investment?

Starting earlier

Respondents highlighted that earlier validation of data availability and completeness would have improved readiness, alongside earlier double materiality assessments (CSRD) or sustainability risk and opportunity identification (ISSB).

More than a third (37%) of companies that had already reported also cited earlier engagement with an assurance practitioner as a key improvement factor.

Considerations for Irish companies

• Reporting assessment: Complete or refresh materiality or double materiality assessments to identify material topics and guide “no‑regrets” actions.
• Get ready for assurance: Assess metric availability and assurance readiness, establish calculation methodologies, data lineage and quality checks, and run dry‑runs ahead of first‑time reporting.
• Start drafting disclosures early: Iterate with finance, risk, legal, and operations to fast‑track reviews and reduce assurance queries.

More than two‑thirds of companies that have reported under CSRD or ISSB say they gained significant (28%) or moderate (42%) value beyond compliance from sustainability data and insights. Those seeing the most value are more likely to use insights across business strategy, supply chain transformation, workforce transformation, marketing, and risk management.

Q: Beyond meeting compliance requirements, how much value do you think your company has obtained from the data and insights collected for CSRD/ISSB reporting?

^{_{Note: Asked only of respondents whose company has reported in line with CSRD/ISSB. Excluding ‘Don’t know’ responses. Source: PwC’s Global Sustainability Reporting Survey 2025}}

Companies seeing significant value are more likely to use sustainability data to inform decisions. For example, 38% use it extensively for business strategy, compared with 11% among those not seeing significant value. Similar patterns appear across compliance, risk management, supply chain transformation, corporate finance, and workforce transformation.

Q: To what extent has your company leveraged the data and insights collected for (CSRD/ISSB) reporting to inform the following business decisions or strategies?

(Showing only ‘To a very large extent’ and ‘To a large extent’ answers)

^{_{Note: Asked of respondents whose company has reported in line with CSRD/ISSB. Source: PwC’s Global Sustainability Reporting Survey 2025}}

Companies obtaining significant value are more likely to have increased investment in sustainability reporting over the past year. More than half (56%) report that they significantly increased resources during this period, compared with just a quarter (26%) of all survey respondents. Similarly, 40% increased the amount of senior leadership time dedicated to sustainability reporting, versus 16% across the full respondent group.

There are clear lessons here for companies at earlier stages of their reporting journey. Based on our experience working with clients globally, value is created when sustainability data and insights are used to inform decision‑making across the enterprise. This does not happen by default. It requires sustained senior executive attention and targeted investment in new processes and systems.

It took decades for regulators, investors and companies worldwide to align on the fundamentals of financial reporting. It is therefore unsurprising that the early stages of the sustainability reporting journey have been characterised by shifting priorities, timelines and disclosure requirements across jurisdictions. For business leaders in Ireland and beyond, what matters most is ensuring that sustainability factors are correctly identified and embedded in business strategy. These factors are increasingly central to performance, and their effective management is now a strategic imperative.