Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) Support

The CSRD requires a double materiality assessment to determine which environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics should be reported against. Materiality assessments enable prioritisation and reporting on the topics which are most important to your business operations as well as your peers and stakeholders. 

Ricardo’s experts tailor the DMA to meet the specific needs of organisations, whether you're undertaking your first assessment or updating an existing one to reflect the latest developments, regulatory changes, and emerging impacts, risks, and opportunities.

Ricardo’s double materiality assessment will give you clarity on the most important areas for your business through both an impact and a risk lens to enable informed decision making. Our support includes:

• Identification of ESG topics
• Stakeholders and the value chain mapping
• Stakeholder engagement
• Identifying material impacts, risks, and opportunities
• Assess and analyse and interpreting your results
• Identification of applicable ESRS standards

Our experts will conduct a comprehensive review of your company’s business and sustainability strategy, including an ESG strategy "current state" review. This will evaluate the alignment of your strategy with material impacts, risks, and opportunities (IROs), aiming to provide recommendations for progressively integrating ESG-related IROs into your business strategy.

Our support includes:

• Strategy review, including ESG pillars, metrics, targets, initiatives and governance structures.
• Review of material topics as well as non-material topics that could have commercial benefits or risks.
• Peer Benchmarking: a detailed comparison against direct peers and competitors, covering key geographic regions.
• Emerging regulatory landscape review: Analysis of gaps beyond the CSRD, including frameworks such as IFRS, SDS, and TNFD.

The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) define the topics and data points to be reported under the CSRD. If in scope, you are required to disclose information related to governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets for material topics (as identified through your Double Materiality Assessment), in line with ESRS requirements.

Ricardo offers a comprehensive assessment against these standards, providing tailored recommendations based on your Double Materiality results. This ensures a targeted and strategic approach to enhance your reporting practices.

Our detailed analysis of your material issues, combined with an ESRS gap assessment, provides you with a comprehensive understanding of your CSRD reporting strengths and areas for improvement, enabling the development of a robust, informed reporting strategy.

Our support includes:

• Identification of entities within the scope of the gap assessment.
• Applicability analysis and identification of mandatory ESRS data points.
• Analysis of current alignment with ESRS requirements.
• Strategic recommendations for the short, medium, and long term.
• Ongoing regulatory support and updates related to the CSRD.

Based on the robust insights of your CSRD gap assessment, our experts provide clear strategic direction and tailored advice in the form of a bespoke roadmap and implementation plan.

The plan empowers your business to implement effective actions for CSRD reporting and includes a detailed timeline, ensuring a systematic approach to closing gaps and achieving milestones on your sustainability journey. With Ricardo, your ESG roadmap becomes a clear and actionable plan for sustainable success.

Following the creation of your CSRD implementation plan, your company will have clearly identified actions for alignment. Achieving compliance will likely require changes to governance structures, internal processes, and controls.

Ricardo’s experts can support you by reviewing your current operations and providing tailored recommendations for improvement. We can also monitor the progress of your implementation plan to ensure continued alignment with CSRD disclosure requirements and assist with the delivery of specific implementation actions.

This tailored approach ensures that your governance frameworks and operational processes are fully aligned with the CSRD, as well as other relevant sustainability reporting policies and initiatives, enabling a smooth and structured transition across your organisation.

We can support you to prepare high-quality, compliant sustainability disclosures under the CSRD. We will assist you in identifying, collecting, and validating the necessary data aligned with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), ensuring that all material topics are appropriately covered.

Our team can also develop clear, accurate, and well-structured reports that both meet regulatory expectations and clearly present your organisation’s sustainability performance and strategy for your stakeholders. Whether drafting your first report or enhancing an existing one, we ensure your reporting is both robust and aligned with stakeholder expectations.

Find out more about how we can support you with CSRD alignment and your wider sustainability journey.

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