Multinational Firm Enhances ESG Data Management and Reporting with Protiviti to Meet CSRD Requirements

⇨ The U.S.-based multinational services company is proactively addressing the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requirements, which mandate comprehensive disclosure of social and environmental impacts for large and listed companies starting in 2026.

⇨ Protiviti collaborated with the company to enhance its ESG reporting processes, improve data collection, and achieve significant emissions reductions, demonstrating the value of a structured approach to ESG readiness and compliance.

⇨ The emphasis on centralized ESG data management and robust data governance mechanisms is essential for meeting CSRD requirements, ensuring accurate reporting, and ultimately enhancing overall sustainability performance.

A U.S.-based multinational professional services company was concerned about meeting the rapidly approaching requirements of the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This regulation requires “all large companies and all listed companies (except listed micro-enterprises) to disclose information on what they see as the risks and opportunities arising from social and environmental issues, and on the impact of their activities on people and the environment.” Disclosure will begin in 2026 using data from FY2025. Overall, this company was seeking to enhance trust and confidence in its ESG data and collection processes. The company’s senior leaders realized they needed a better understanding of the CSRD and how the regulation would impact its global business.

19+ Year SAP Gold Partner, Protiviti was engaged to help the company tackle several ESG data and technology projects. Partnering with the company’s executive team and ESG team, Protiviti categorized the challenges into three cross-functional buckets: the ESG reporting process, ESG data and toolsets, and CSRD readiness.

This company held an objective shared by many modern organizations to become a data-driven enterprise, which can be defined as an organization that prioritizes the use of data as a fundamental element of its strategic decision-making processes. Defining attributes include:

• Data sets are consolidated into a unified architecture to provide a comprehensive view
• Employs advanced analytical tools and technologies to extract insights from data
• Culture of data literacy
• Decision-making processes are predominantly based on data analysis
• Adopts predictive analytics to forecast future trends and behaviors
• Data governance frameworks are in place to ensure data quality, privacy, and compliance

Recent SAPinsider research suggests a growing emphasis on agility and responsiveness in leveraging data for decision-making. The research report Data Management Strategies revealed that increasing demand to provide fast, real-time data (47%) emerged as the top driving factor for data management improvement initiatives, while almost 44% cited IT budget pressures to keep capital and operating costs under control as a significant driver.

Because ESG initiatives touch so many aspects of the business (there are close to 300 ESG metrics in the company’s annual ESG report), there were hundreds of data owners involved in ESG reporting, from real estate, to operations, legal, HR, finance, and more. Protiviti’s contributions included:

• Collaborating with those hundreds of data owners to obtain ESG data and a better understanding of the company’s various ESG-related initiatives, which included:
  • Expanded GHG data collection from facilities and communication with landlords, which allowed the ESG team to identify facilities where renewable energy initiatives can be implemented and/or expanded.
  • Increased collection of actual GHG consumption, revealing insights such as 20%+ reductions in both natural gas and refrigerant emissions.
• Creating a structured quality control review process, using the 200+ ESG metrics from the company’s annual report.
• Mapping steps for analysis of the company’s ESG reporting process.
• Reviewing the company’s existing ESG data management products and services and determining what future investments could be customized to the company’s needs and pricing requirements.
• Preparing detailed analyses of CSRD/ESRS requirements and evaluating the company’s readiness for compliance with each requirement.
• Conducting a double materiality assessment (DMA) in compliance with European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) guidance.
• Planning for the implementation of ESG software and standardization of data collection and review processes.
• Educating cross-departmental leadership regarding CSRD legislation and assessing current state readiness for global ESG requirements.

The CSRD reporting pathway companies select now is a critical factor in how their future data collection and reporting platforms will develop. As mentioned, organizations may currently plan to report on an entity, EU consolidated, or enterprise level. However, by 2029, all firms will have to report on the enterprise level using FY2028 data, so if another mechanism is selected now, the company will eventually need to shift. Because of this, many companies, including this one, are electing to begin now with enterprise-level reporting.

As with many companies taking a deep dive into reporting processes and tools, Protiviti was able to identify and resolve several gaps for this company.  Specifically, Protiviti closed the following gaps:

• Developed and implemented an ESG quality control review process, which greatly reduced the number of audit findings from the prior year.
• Increased the collection of actual greenhouse gas consumption data, revealing insights the company had achieved, such as 33% and 20% reductions in natural gas and refrigerant emissions, respectively.
• Progressed executive education and prioritization of a data management tool to support CSRD readiness.
• Provided proposed improvements and efficiencies for the next ESG reporting cycle.
• Capitalized upon the DMA process to increase company-wide ESG knowledge, which enhances the company’s sustainability goals and progress towards those goals.
• Supported a global change management initiative among internal stakeholders to embrace and enhance ESG data collection.

In addition to the immediate improvements that the company experienced in ESG data collection and reporting, the enhanced processes have led to better decisions regarding their sustainability and environmental programs. As a result, both have contributed to an improved Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) score from the previous year. The CDP, which provides a snapshot of environmental disclosure and performance, demonstrates the trajectory of an organization’s environmental journey.

Protiviti was also able to help the company become more comfortable with its new data collection and reporting tool, and its new workflow processes and assure that its platform now accurately gathers and reflects the work the organization is doing to support global sustainability. This initiative will continue as the company grows and matures its ESG reporting efforts. “Protiviti has been by our side, advocating for our team and helping navigate complex projects, significantly upleveling internal audit results in ESG data, ESG software selection, and EU/CSRD readiness,” said the company’s sponsor. “No matter which MD and team we are working with, we reach our goals together, working to build something better and stronger than where we started.”

What this means for SAPinsiders

Share your data management strategies. The focus on enterprise data management is intensifying with the proliferation of 5G, IoT, AI/ML and other transformative technologies. SAP customers are increasingly looking for new data management models for the storage, migration, integration, governance, protection, transformation, and processing of all kinds of data ranging from transactional to analytical. Balancing the risks, compliance needs, and costs of data management in SAP HANA on-premise and on the cloud while also providing reliable, secure data to the organization is increasingly important to the business We will be releasing the 2025 Data Management Strategies research report in February 2025. Contribute to the research by completing this survey: https://www.research.net/r/DataMgt25.

Centralize ESG data for consistent reporting. SAP’s Product Footprint Management and SAP Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) can capture, standardize, and manage sustainability-related data across the organization. This helps centralize emissions, resource usage, and waste data, essential for CSRD reporting on environmental impacts. By consolidating data from multiple sources into SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP customers can unify financial and non-financial data, facilitating CSRD-required disclosures on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, waste management, and resource consumption.

Implement data governance and quality controls. Ensuring data accuracy, consistency, and traceability is critical for CSRD. SAP customers should implement governance frameworks, with tools like SAP Master Data Governance, to set standards for data quality and lineage. Conduct periodic audits of data inputs and validation checks to ensure compliance and accuracy. Under CSRD, inaccurate reporting can lead to penalties, making data quality essential. SAP customers can use tools within SAP Analytics Cloud for continuous monitoring and data validation.