Biodiversity and water among least reported topics in CSRD disclosures

EFRAG member also warns reports are ‘moving towards’ an unhelpful level of detail

Biodiversity and water are among the least reported topics in disclosures made under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. 

That’s according to analysis of more than 300 sustainability statements that have been published as part of the requirements so far.  

Less than half (44%) deemed biodiversity material, while just 37% reported on water. 

The only topic to receive less attention was community impacts (36%).  

By contrast, virtually all companies so far have chosen to report on climate change (99%), their own workforce (98%) and business conduct (92%). 

The analysis, by data house Datamaran, found that biodiversity disclosures were low “even in sectors with significant biodiversity impacts,” such as mining.  

Samuel Canghiari, an ESG regulation specialist at Danish pharma firm Novo Nordisk said on a webinar last week that the lack of reporting on nature is “really about maturity”. 

“Biodiversity, it’s at a very early stage, so it’s difficult,” he explained.  

Novo Nordisk did disclose its negative impacts on biodiversity in its sustainability statement, which included its reliance on vulnerable species for research. 

More broadly, Datamaran’s analysis revealed that the number of material impacts, risks and opportunities (IROs) identified by the cohort was found to range between six and 130, with most between 25-45. 

Gemma Sanchez-Danes, a sustainability expert within EFRAG, the body advising the European Commission on its disclosure standards, said the number of IROs being disclosed was “surprising”.

Speaking on the same webinar as Canghiari, she suggested many companies hadn’t understood they had the “flexibility or liberty to aggregate [IROs] to make them more meaningful” under the CSRD and its associated standards.  

Sanchez-Danes added that the current level of granularity does not pose a risk to the usefulness of the information being provided, “we are probably moving towards that direction”.