CSRD reporting is here – what do the first reports look like?
The year 2025 marked a major shift in sustainability reporting. The first reports compliant with the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) were published this spring, and they have been eagerly anticipated – both in terms of reporting content and practical implementation. IR Partners analysed the CSRD reports published by 25 Finnish companies, and in this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at what the reporting landscape looks like right now.
Among the first: who is reporting now?
Our analysis sample consisted of large Finnish companies representing various industries that were subject to the 2024 reporting requirement. This requirement applies to listed companies and other entities of public interest with more than 500 employees. Many of these companies had already reported in accordance with the NFRD (Non-Financial Reporting Directive) and the EU Taxonomy, so CSRD reporting was not entirely new to them, but its requirements are significantly more comprehensive.
Consistency in structure, variety in visuals
From the perspective of comparability, it was interesting to note that a surprisingly large number of reports followed a very similar structure. This suggests that the guidance provided by the ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) has successfully guided reporting in a consistent manner. Structural elements of the reports, such as governance, strategic linkages, and materiality assessments, were easily recognisable across the reports of different companies.
Visually, however, there was variation: some companies had stuck to the more visual approach familiar from previous, voluntary GRI reporting, while others had opted for a content-focused, text-heavy style. This provides welcome flexibility in reporting style – content is key, but the presentation can vary according to the company’s communication style. Visuals and the use of tables often improve the readability of reports as well.
Long reports, heavy content
One noteworthy aspect was the length of the reports. The average sustainability report was about 90 pages long, with the longest exceeding 250 pages. In practice, such a massive increase means that the sustainability report is now a central part of the report of the Board of Directors. For the companies in the sample, sustainability reporting accounted for about 75% of the report’s content.
It will be interesting to see how the content of these reports evolves in the coming years. It would make sense for everyone if reporting were to focus even more on the most essential sustainability issues and comparable data.
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