Bottom line: CSRD reporting requires in-scope companies to disclose sustainability information under the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, using double materiality and independent assurance. In 2026, the rules changed significantly. The Omnibus I Directive narrowed the scope to the largest companies, so the first task for any organisation is to confirm whether it still has to report, then focus preparation on data, materiality and audit readiness.

This guide explains what CSRD reporting involves, who is now in scope after the reforms, what the standards require, and the practical steps that make reporting manageable.

What is CSRD reporting?

CSRD stands for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the European Union framework that governs how companies report on sustainability. It expanded and replaced the earlier Non-Financial Reporting Directive, widening both the range of companies covered and the depth of information required.

Under CSRD, reporting follows the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, known as the ESRS. Disclosures cover environmental, social and governance topics, must be prepared on a double materiality basis, are subject to independent limited assurance, and are tagged digitally so the data is machine readable. In short, sustainability information is held to a standard much closer to financial reporting.

Who has to report under CSRD, and when?

This is where the picture shifted in 2026. The Omnibus I Directive, published as Directive (EU) 2026/470, entered into force in March 2026 and substantially reduced the number of companies in scope. Estimates suggest the population dropped from around 50,000 companies to roughly 5,000, concentrating the obligation on the largest organisations.

Under the revised thresholds, mandatory CSRD reporting applies to EU companies with more than 1,000 employees and net annual turnover above €450 million. Listed small and medium-sized enterprises, previously due to be captured, are now exempt. Certain non-EU groups remain in scope where they generate significant turnover in the EU through a qualifying subsidiary or branch.

Timelines were also reset. Companies that already reported under the previous regime published their first reports in 2025, covering financial year 2024. A separate measure delayed the next wave by two years, so large companies entering CSRD for the first time are generally expected to report from financial year 2027, with reports due in 2028. Because member states transpose the directive into national law on their own schedules, and some reliefs apply during the transition, confirming your specific obligation locally is essential.

What does CSRD reporting require?

At its core, CSRD reporting asks a company to disclose how sustainability issues affect its business and how the business affects people and the environment. That two-way lens is the principle of double materiality, and it drives which topics a company must report.

Reporting is structured around the ESRS, which set out disclosures across climate, wider environmental issues, social matters and governance. Companies also need independent limited assurance over the information, and disclosures are tagged in a digital format. A simplified set of ESRS is expected to apply from financial year 2027, with fewer datapoints and a stronger emphasis on what is genuinely material, so the direction of travel is toward leaner, more decision-useful reporting.

Why CSRD reporting is challenging

Even for well-resourced teams, the difficulty is rarely the intent to report. It is the operational reality of pulling defensible data together. Emissions and ESG data often sit across multiple systems and spreadsheets, and manual reporting cycles can stretch across several months.

Three pressures compound the problem. Requirements overlap across frameworks such as CSRD, CDP, GRI, ISSB and SFDR, so the same data is reshaped again and again. Scope 3 and value chain figures depend on supplier engagement that many organisations have no scalable process for. And auditors expect a clear audit trail, which fragmented sources struggle to provide.

Managing all of this with disconnected tools is what makes reporting slow, which is why many enterprises centralise the work on a dedicated platform. Sweep, the sustainability intelligence platform, approaches CSRD reporting by turning fragmented ESG and carbon data into structured, audit-ready business intelligence, drawn from a single trusted dataset that also supports frameworks including CDP, GRI, ISSB and SFDR.

Its flexible data model, the Sweep Tree, adapts to complex multi-entity structures; its Sweepy analytics surface hotspots and predictive insights, and collaboration tools such as supplier portals, role-based access, and approval workflows keep value chain data moving.

Sweep reports that this approach reduces manual data wrangling time by around 70 percent, with native integrations across ERP, procurement, HRMS, and financial systems.

How to prepare for CSRD reporting

Start by confirming scope. Reassess your company against the revised employee and turnover thresholds so you know whether CSRD is a legal obligation, a voluntary exercise, or something customers and banks will still expect regardless.

From there, the work is methodical. Run a double materiality assessment to identify the topics that matter, inventory the data you can already evidence and the gaps you cannot, build a repeatable process for collecting supplier and value chain data, and establish the controls and audit trail that assurance will demand. Aligning frameworks around a single dataset, rather than rebuilding for each one, is what keeps the effort sustainable year on year.

Frequently asked questions

Is CSRD still going ahead after the Omnibus reforms?

Yes. CSRD remains in force, but its scope is much narrower. The 2026 Omnibus I changes raised the thresholds so that mandatory reporting now falls mainly on the largest companies, while many mid-market and listed SME organisations are no longer required to report.

Who is in scope for CSRD reporting now?

Broadly, EU companies with more than 1,000 employees and net annual turnover above €450 million, along with certain non-EU groups with substantial EU operations. Companies close to the thresholds should verify their status carefully, since transposition and transition rules vary by member state.

What are the ESRS?

The European Sustainability Reporting Standards are the detailed standards that define what and how companies report under CSRD. A simplified version is expected to apply from financial year 2027, reducing the number of required datapoints and sharpening the focus on material information.

What is double materiality?

Double materiality means assessing sustainability topics from two angles: how they affect the company financially, and how the company affects people and the environment. A topic is reportable if it is material from either perspective, and the assessment shapes the whole disclosure.

What if my company is no longer in scope?

Companies that fall outside mandatory scope can report voluntarily, often using the lighter voluntary standard developed for smaller organisations. Many still choose to, because customers, lenders and value chain partners increasingly request comparable sustainability data.