Reporting on the environmental CSRD, the first feedback and keys to success for 2025
Since January 2025, the first large European companies are publishing their sustainability reports in accordance with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This directive, which came into effect on January 1, 2024, marks a decisive turning point in non-financial reporting: it replaces the NFRD (Non-Financial Reporting Directive) by expanding the scope of compliance to approximately five times more European companies.
The initial feedback reveals a mixed picture: while large French companies demonstrate a well-established ESG reporting culture, they face significant operational challenges, particularly in terms of collecting and ensuring the reliability of environmental data. These lessons are valuable for companies preparing for the obligation and for local authorities seeking to implement their own environmental reporting strategy.
Regulatory context: timeline and scope of application
Three waves of phased application
The CSRD directive applies progressively based on the size of companies:
Wave 1 (financial year 2024, publication 2025): large listed companies with more than 500 employees, revenue > €50M and balance sheet > €25M. This first wave includes approximately 10,000 European companies.
Wave 2 (financial year 2026, publication 2027): large companies with more than 250 employees meeting two of the three size criteria.
Wave 3 (financial year 2028, publication 2029): listed SMEs (reporting possible by 2029 for this category according to the DDADUE law No. 2025-391 of April 30, 2025).
Local authorities, although not directly subject to the CSRD, are indirectly concerned: they will have to support their providers in their compliance, or even adopt similar reporting standards to justify their low-carbon strategy and public investments to funders and citizens.
Reporting standards: the ESRS
The CSRD relies on the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), harmonized technical standards governing the publication of ESG information. Among the 12 ESRS standards, the ESRS E1 standard specifically addresses climate change and requires the publication of a climate transition plan detailing emission reduction targets (scope 1, 2, and 3), decarbonization levers, and alignment with the Paris Agreement (1.5°C).
First lesson: excellent conceptual preparation, operational blockages
A high French ESG maturity already
French companies rank first in the CSRD 2025 benchmark by Wavestone (study covering 35 reports from European companies). They demonstrate a better structuring of their material issues, a more assertive CSR governance, and a stronger integration of the concept of double materiality (impacts of the company on the world AND impacts of the world on the company).
However, this conceptual lead masks more complex operational realities.
The big challenge: data collection and quality
65% of companies that have published their first CSRD reports report significant difficulties during the data collection process, particularly concerning Scope 3 (indirect emissions from the value chain). The main barriers identified are:
Insufficient reliability of supplier data: business partners do not always have consolidated, verified, or standardized ESG data.
Absence of shared standards: each supplier uses their own calculation methodologies, making aggregation complex and unreliable.
Decentralization of organizations: environmental data (energy, water, waste, carbon) is fragmented across different departments, tools, and geographies, without centralized governance.
Only 27% of surveyed companies have a centralized system to collect, organize, and govern their ESG data, complicating compliance with the 1,179 data points of the ESRS standards. ThinkCities® meets this challenge by providing a unique platform that centralizes all key environmental data, automates their consolidation, and easily generates compliant CSRD reports. This solution simplifies ESG data governance for reliable compliance and effective management of the ecological transition.
As a result, 44% of reporting companies report retaining fewer than 500 data points, and 86% study fewer than 750 of the possible 1,179. This default approach formally meets the obligation but does not offer a holistic view or a robust decision-making basis.
An insufficient data governance
67% of companies have not yet established a dedicated team for the governance of their non-financial data (mapping, validation, reliability, auditing). In the absence of solid governance, collection remains manual, decentralized, and prone to errors or inconsistencies.
Second lesson: the climate transition plan, a recurring weak point
Lack of precision in decarbonization trajectories
Although the majority of companies that published in 2025 set emission reduction targets, less than half have communicated a precise and detailed climate transition plan. The identified gaps are:
Vague targets: reduction targets are not systematically associated with intermediate milestones (2030, 2035, 2050).
Insufficiently described levers: companies list their actions (energy efficiency, renewable energies, circular economy) without always quantifying their impact or specifying the deployment schedule.
Poorly assessed transition risks: few companies analyze the locked-in emissions related to their existing assets or comment on how these dependencies could compromise their 2050 targets.
The lack of connection between finance and sustainability
The CSRD expands requirements by requiring companies to accurately assess the financial impacts of climate risks — physical (storms, floods, droughts) and transition (new regulations, rising carbon costs). However, few large French groups have integrated this dual dimension into their dashboarding. The link between the climate transition plan and the strategic financing plan often remains superficial.
Third lesson: biodiversity and value chain, underestimated emerging issues
Fragmentary biodiversity data
The CSRD requires companies to report their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity, including the location of their sites in sensitive areas. However, only 13 companies in the EY panel have published accurate information about their sites in sensitive areas, and only one has integrated its value chain into this analysis.
Reporting scope: poorly covered subsidiaries and suppliers
The directive expands the reporting scope beyond direct operations, including workers indirectly employed (subcontractors, service providers). Not all companies have yet fully accounted for this dimension, creating transparency gaps.
Four cross-cutting lessons for success
1. Establish centralized governance of ESG data
Companies making the fastest progress have structured a formal data governance around three pillars:
Definition of a single source of truth for each environmental data (consumptions, emissions, risks)
Clear accountability: assigning data owners by theme (energy, water, waste, carbon)
Validation and audit process: data traceability, audit trails, alerts on anomalies
2. Invest in a centralization and automation platform
KPMG and Wavestone report that less than 30% of companies use robust solutions such as Master Data Management (MDM), audit histories, or real-time data integration – essential elements to ensure traceability required by the CSRD.
It is in this context that ThinkCities® stands out as an indispensable solution. With ThinkCities®, companies and communities can:
Centralize all key environmental data (energy, water, waste, carbon, climate risks) on a single secure platform.
Automate the production of reports compliant with CSRD, BEGES, PCAET, and Green Fund standards.
Trace and audit each data point to ensure reliability and regulatory compliance.
Generate customizable real-time dashboarding based on specific issues.
ThinkCities® thus facilitates the governance of ESG data by providing a comprehensive and consolidated view, essential for effectively managing ecological transition and meeting increasing regulatory demands.
3. Actively engage the value chain and stakeholders
The CSRD reports with the highest quality are those that have actively engaged:
Suppliers and service providers, by clarifying expectations regarding ESG data and providing standardized collection templates
Internal stakeholders (executive management, finance, operations, business units), to ensure collective ownership
External stakeholders (investors, citizens, NGOs), to document their concerns and show how they influence strategy
4. Structure a realistic and funded climate transition plan
An effective transition plan rests on four elements:
Quantified objectives with intermediate milestones (2030, 2035, 2050) and alignment on 1.5°C
Identified and quantified levers (energy reduction, renewable energies, circular economy, etc.)
Allocated budget and resources with clarity on financing (self-financing, Green Fund, climate funds, carbon credits, etc.)
Monitoring indicators and adjustment mechanisms in case of deviations
Specific Issues for Local Authorities and Asset Managers
For local authorities and asset managers, it is crucial to structure and centralize their environmental data (energy consumption, water, carbon emissions, climate risks, biodiversity, land artificialization). This organization facilitates the automation of compliance reports (PCAET, BEGES, territorial diagnostics, funding files). The management of transition pathways is made more efficient thanks to clear dashboards that are updated in real-time.
In this context, ThinkCities provides significant added value by offering an integrated platform that centralizes key data, automates report production, and provides a synthetic overview to better engage stakeholders (residents, businesses, elected officials, investors). This approach simplifies environmental management and facilitates collective decision-making around shared priorities.
Conclusion: From Constraint to Strategic Opportunity
The first CSRD exercise shows that French companies understand their sustainability issues well, but struggle to translate this vision into concrete and measurable actions. The three-month delay observed in the release of reports (January 2025 instead of April 2024) illustrates the complexity of the task.
However, this is a real opportunity: those who invest now in centralized data governance, an automation platform such as ThinkCities, and a collective mobilization around the transition will gain a strong competitive advantage, recognized by investors, regulators, and citizens.
For local authorities and asset managers, the CSRD and similar obligations are not obstacles but drivers of sustainable transformation. Structuring and managing environmental data digitally means being able to act effectively, reduce costs, and demonstrate the real impact of every euro invested in the ecological transition.
