Achilles simplifies complex disclosure challenges associated with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) to enable businesses to report with unrivalled confidence.
INSIGHT
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is an EU law that came into effect in January 2023. It establishes a common framework for companies to report on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. CSRD asks companies to explain how they impact people and the planet — not just in their own business, but also in their supply chains.
February 2025 Update: The EU has proposed updates to CSRD through the Omnibus Package to make reporting easier and less costly, while still supporting the EU’s goals for a more sustainable economy.
Cut manual effort, enable cross-functional collaboration, and support real-time progress tracking – while meeting your stakeholder obligations in full.
Streamline CSRD reporting of your direct risks, impacts and opportunities with Achilles advanced AI. Auto populate all data and narrative questions with 94% accuracy from any source including document uploads and internal systems.
Automate the collection, calculation, and disclosure of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data, reducing complexity and helping your business meet both carbon reduction goals and CSRD reporting requirements with ease.
Simplify CSRD-aligned supply chain data collection and assessment and deliver fast, accurate, and audit-ready supplier data that fully meets CSRD requirements – All risks, all suppliers, all geographies.
Download your comprehensive guide to CSRD. The Guide is currently being updated to reflect latest developments.
Quiz
Even the most experienced procurement and supply chain professionals admit to feeling overwhelmed by this new era of ESG regulation and reporting. How good is your non-financial reporting knowledge?
INSIGHT
The CSRD consists of 12 Standards, two cross-cutting standards (ESRS 1 and ESRS 2) and ten topic-specific standards for subject areas covering environment, social and governance. Within the ten topic specific standards there are three that focus more heavily on value chain reporting. Here we provide a helpful summary of each of these.
INSIGHT
Sustainability is rising up the corporate agenda—and with regulations like the CSRD, businesses must now show they understand not just how the world affects them, but how they affect the world. A materiality assessment helps identify the issues that matter most. This blog explores how double materiality takes that further, balancing financial risk with broader social and environmental impact.
INSIGHT
Supply chain due diligence legislation and value chain impacts are not easy subjects to understand. It can take years to understand all the different legislation and terminology. In this post we explain some of the most common jargon terms you are likely to come across – particularly if you are working in procurement or sustainability.
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IN DETAIL
Here we answer some of your key questions about the legislation. For more information book a no-obligation meeting with an Achilles consultant.
To ensure that companies report comparable and reliable sustainability information, enhancing investor and stakeholder confidence in the sustainability performance of companies.
Impact materiality focuses on a company’s impact on sustainability issues, while financial materiality focuses on how sustainability issues impact the company’s financial performance.
EFRAG develops and updates the ESRS, the specific standards used for sustainability reporting under the CSRD.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, including climate change, pollution, human rights, and governance practices.
CSRD requires assurance by an external auditor. There are two levels of audit available for CSRD: limited assurance and reasonable assurance. From the financial year 2024 onwards, companies mandated by CSRD must audit their sustainability statements according to the limited external assurance procedures. Achilles provides audit ready reports based on your specific business requirements to simplify the process of collecting, assessing and completing your disclosure.
The CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive) are both part of the EU’s broader sustainable business agenda, but they serve different and complementary purposes:
Focus: Transparency and accountability in sustainability performance.
Main requirement: Companies must publish regular reports on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, aligned with double materiality.
Goal: Inform investors and stakeholders with standardized, audit-ready disclosures (including climate risks, Scope 3 emissions, social impact, etc.).
Applies to: Thousands of large companies operating in the EU (including non-EU companies with significant EU presence).
Focus: Responsible business conduct and human rights/environmental due diligence in supply chains.
Main requirement: Companies must identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for actual and potential adverse impacts across their operations and value chains.
Goal: Ensure companies take active steps to reduce harm, not just report on it.
Applies to: Large EU and non-EU companies meeting certain thresholds, and extends obligations across global value chains.
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) includes significant supply chain-related requirements, especially through the lens of double materiality and value chain transparency. Here’s a summary of what’s expected:
Under CSRD, companies must report not only on their own operations but also on material impacts, risks, and opportunities across their value chains—both upstream (e.g. suppliers) and downstream (e.g. product use/disposal).
Includes environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics across direct and indirect suppliers.
Companies must identify where impacts or risks occur in the supply chain—even if outside the EU.
Learn about Achilles Supply Chain Due Diligence services for CSRD compliance.
Mandatory disclosure of Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions (indirect emissions in the value chain), where material.
This often represents the majority of a company’s carbon footprint, especially in manufacturing, retail, and services reliant on third-party logistics or suppliers.
Learn about Achilles Carbon Accounting solutions for CSRD compliance.
Companies must disclose their policies and procedures for identifying, assessing, preventing, and mitigating ESG risks across the supply chain.
This directly overlaps with upcoming CSDDD obligations (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive).
Learn about Achilles Supply Chain Due Diligence services for CSRD compliance.
Disclosure of social and human rights impacts must include supply chain labor conditions, wages, working hours, child labor, forced labor, freedom of association, and more.
Required for material issues affecting workers in supply chains—not just direct employees.
Learn about Achilles Supply Chain Due Diligence services for CSRD compliance including ethical business audit services.
Companies must report on how they monitor, engage, and influence suppliers to meet sustainability standards.
Includes integration of ESG criteria into procurement policies, codes of conduct, audits, and corrective action plans.
Achilles is independently recognised by Verdantix as being the world-leader in supplier engagement.
All CSRD reports must follow European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). Relevant supply chain-related disclosures are embedded across:
ESRS E1 – Climate change (Scope 3 emissions, supply chain transition planning)
ESRS S2 – Workers in the value chain (social impacts and due diligence)
ESRS G1 – Governance, risk management, and supplier policies
PWC’s 2024 Global CSRD Survey found that data availability and value chain complexity are seen as the biggest challenges to CSRD reporting. Achilles specialises in supporting businesses to collect, verify and analyse and disclose – not only direct environmental and social impacts, but also those across supply chains. For help and guidance book a no obligation meeting with an Achilles Consultant.
