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PwC’s report on its inaugural Global Sustainability Reporting Survey provides insights into how nearly 500 companies reporting or planning to report under the CSRD or ISSB standards are responding to the shifting sustainability reporting landscape characterized in part by the EU’s simplification efforts, the ISSB’s advance in many jurisdictions in what is, in many cases, evolving standard-setting environments, and the pause of the SEC’s climate disclosure rule.

Among the key takeaways:

• Reporting pressures—More than one-third (34%) of North American respondents reported increased pressure from internal stakeholders to provide sustainability reporting/data over the past year, while 44% reported increased external pressures, with significantly higher internal and external pressures in the Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions.
• Resource commitment—Investment of senior leadership time for sustainability reporting has increased for nearly half of North American companies over the last year (measurably less so than other regions), while nearly two-thirds of such companies have dedicated increased resources to such reporting (on par with other regions).
• It takes a village—Illustrating the resource needs and impacts at all levels of the company, most respondents reported numerous functional group involved in responding to the CSRD/ISSB reporting requirements, as shown here:
  
  
• Lessons learned—Among those companies that had already published sustainability statements (most commonly under the CSRD), nearly half indicated that more effective use of technology/software, earlier validation of availability and completeness of data, and additional staff resources would have improved their company’s reporting process.

Notably, 40% of respondents whose companies are in scope of the CSRD plan to postpone their reporting by two years pursuant to the EU’s “Stop the Clock” directive (which the Society supported).