In our recent webinar, Simplify Your Sustainability Strategy: Moving Beyond Check-the-Box Reporting, four Novata specialists shared how sustainability teams are replacing request-by-request reporting with a reusable, proactive setup.
That webinar started with an opening poll which asked attendees about their biggest challenge heading into the sustainability reporting season, and the answer that stood out was too much manual work with too little time for analysis. Here’s how the panel discussed that challenge during the webinar.
1. Starting emissions work before anyone asks
Clara Meyer, Senior Onboarding Associate, recommends starting Scope 1, 2, and 3 calculations before an investor asks for them. A headcount figure might take one email to HR, but a carbon footprint needs inputs from several teams and a proper calculation methodology, so it takes longer to prepare.
If you’ve reported to an investor before, Meyer noted, you probably already know what will come again this year. Meredith Bind, Chief Product & Marketing Officer, added that Scope 1, 2, and 3 are always among the top metrics investors request, based on Novata’s annual ESG Metrics Guide.
2. Building one core dataset for every stakeholder
Bronagh Ward, Head of Product, recommends a central pool of sustainability data, mapped against what stakeholders have asked for in the past, so your team isn’t starting from scratch with every new request format.
The questions show where to focus collection effort, since the same emissions figures appear in investor questionnaires and frameworks such as GRI 305.
Ward also suggested deciding which niche, one-off requests you won’t answer when a question sits outside your strategy or isn’t material to your business.
3. Filtering regulations through your company’s own facts
Adrienne Wong, Metrics & Regulations Associate, recommends scoping regulations from your company’s own facts before reading the rules themselves. Many requirements switch on at size and location thresholds, so confirmed headcount and revenue figures can rule out a long list early.
What you sell or import should also be taken into account, since a 50-person company importing aluminium into the EU can fall under rules a much larger software company never touches.
Wong then sorts the remainder into three tiers:
- Act now: Rules that already apply to your company or will within your next reporting cycle.
- Prepare data: Rules likely to reach you, either directly or through in-scope customers and investors asking for the same information.
- Watch: Proposals and rules with deadlines further out, such as a requirement still two years away.
In her words, “deprioritize doesn’t mean ignore.” Watch-list rules still need monitoring for triggers that could move them up a tier.
4. Collecting data even when CSRD no longer applies
A company outside the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) should keep collecting sustainability data, because in-scope customers and investors will still ask for it. Since Omnibus I, CSRD applies to EU companies with more than 1,000 employees and over €450 million in turnover, starting with 2027 data reported in 2028.
Wong expects that most of those value chain requests to follow the VSME, the EU’s voluntary reporting standard for non-listed SMEs. The panel also covered how the EU’s Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (EmpCo) affects marketing claims built on reporting data.
5. Matching software, advisory and AI to the right jobs
Ward sees software and advisory as complementary, with each one suited to different work.
- Advisory fit Questions that need interpretation, such as which scope an emissions source belongs to.
- Software fit Collecting data at scale, letting one company report to several investors from the same data with an audit trail of the changed what and when.
AI now speeds up both, from spotting patterns in data to researching double materiality.
Too much of a lean team’s reporting season goes to gathering data instead of using it. We see the biggest gains when one documented dataset answers every request and expert judgment steps in where the rules get unclear. Novata pairs sustainability reporting software with advisory support, purpose-built for private companies, so your team can spend that time on analysis.
What else the full discussion covers
The on-demand replay goes further into topics this summary only touches on:
- How EmpCo applies when sustainability data appears in marketing, including the new limits on carbon neutral claims based on offsets
- What to weigh before building your own AI tools for sustainability data, including GDPR obligations and upkeep as regulations change
- The core metrics Wong recommends documenting before reporting season, and the supporting evidence to keep for each one
- Additional filters for scoping regulations, including how past stakeholder requests and deadlines shape your priorities
- How long clients have taken to move from spreadsheets to a repeatable reporting process
The full webinar is available to watch on demand here.
FAQ
Check-the-box sustainability reporting treats each disclosure request as a standalone task, so teams rebuild similar answers every season and rarely use the data beyond compliance. A proactive approach keeps one documented dataset that serves many requests and supports performance analysis.
Private companies outside CSRD scope still need reliable sustainability data, because larger customers and investors pass their own reporting requirements down the value chain. Having core metrics such as emissions already documented makes those requests much faster to answer.
ESG software handles the repeatable work of collecting and reusing sustainability data, while sustainability advisory provides expert judgment where rules need interpretation. Combining the two lets experts focus on decisions such as materiality while the software carries the data workload.
Reporting season preparation works best when it starts as soon as the previous cycle closes, months before the first request arrives. Emissions calculations need the longest lead time because they draw on inputs from across the business and require a clear methodology.
