How to use CSRD to build your CSR approach?

The sustainability report imposed by the CSRD for European companies with more than 1000 employees and €450M in turnover is often an opportunity for managers to recognize the shortcomings in their CSR approach. Lack of monitored KPIs, actions implemented that are not priority or that do not allow the achievement of objectives, few formalized documents...

The “after” production of the CSRD report is therefore the ideal time to structure your CSR approach. and ensure progress on the subject year after year.

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Let's go back to the beginning: what is a CSR approach?

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But in fact, what is CSR already?

What is CSR in business? CSR is the consideration by companies of social and environmental concerns in their activities. CSR is organized around 3 pillars, or axes, grouped under the acronym ESG: Environment, Social and Governance.

Being intrinsically linked, it is easy to confuse them. So what is the difference between CSR and ESG? The difference lies in the substance of the concepts: where CSR refers to a set of practices (measurement, management, action, communication, etc.), ESG refers to the themes among which these practices evolve. In summary: ESG is the What, CSR is the How.

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And who is CSR for?

CSR describes a set of best practices and reflections that can be integrated into all companies, from small businesses to large groups! There is no size limit for doing CSR, nor sector.

But is CSR mandatory? CSR as such is not mandatory, it is a voluntary practice. However, many companies are subject to regulations that require the implementation of certain practices associated with CSR. This is for example the case of the CSRD, the Carbon footprint assessment, or the Sapin II law against corruption.

How do I know if my business is subject to CSRD? The CSRD thresholds in 2026 concern European companies with more than 1000 employees and €450m in turnover.. This is an obligation at the level of consolidated groups, but subsidiaries may choose to produce separate reports if this is relevant to their business.

You are therefore not concerned by the CSRD if: you have less than 1000 employees or €450M in turnover, or do not have a head office in Europe. Note that non-European companies with a minimum turnover of €150M on the European market will be affected by the CSRD from 2030.

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Well, and what is a CSR approach?

A CSR approach is the structure that ensures the consistency of all the practices that you will put in place. It is a common thread that gives a direction, and justifies the means used.

The 3 objectives of a CSR approach are:

• Setting a course : the CSR approach makes it possible to set goals to be achieved in the short, medium and long term‍
• Building a rational : the CSR approach makes it possible to explain the reasons why the company is committed, and to ensure the overall coherence of the initiatives implemented‍
• Plan the operational : the CSR approach describes a clear and pragmatic roadmap, allowing the actors involved to know where, when and how to intervene.

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Concretely, you can deploy your CSR approach by following these 5 steps :

1. Identify topics to be integrated into your approach (climate, biodiversity, well-being at work, ethics...) to focus on what will make the most sense for your business.
2. Diagnosing your maturity on priority issues, to understand what you still need to put in place
3. Set up a road map and action plan concrete and applicable, and implement it on a daily basis
4. Manage your progress thanks to the monitoring of dedicated KPIs
5. Communicate internally and externally on the achievement of your goals and the actions taken.

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Take advantage of the CSRD to build your CSR approach

Thanks to the CSRD, companies already have the prerequisites to build a solid and credible CSR approach.

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Structuring your CSR approach using the results of your double materiality analysis

As part of the CSRD, you have completed a double materiality analysis to sort among the 10 themes covered : climate change, pollution, water, biodiversity, circular economy, own workers, workers in the value chain, affected communities, consumers, business conducts.

Pushing a little further, the analysis of double materiality goes down to the level of the sub-theme, the famous IROs (impacts, risks and opportunities).

As a result of this analysis of double materiality, you have already passed the first stage of implementing a CSR approach : you know the fundamental issues on which you need to commit and make progress.‍

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Diagnosing maturity using a gap analysis

Gap analysis carried out as a result of the double materiality analysis allowed you to understand the work to be done for the CSRD. This gap analysis answered a number of questions:

• What initiatives are already implemented in my company?
• What policies have already been written and which are missing?
• To what extent is my value chain integrated into my CSR considerations?

Thus, thanks to the gap analysis you have carried out a diagnosis and know your strengths and weaknesses on all the issues identified above. You have therefore already passed the second stage of implementing a CSR approach.

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Building your CSR approach based on the diagnosis

From there, all you have to do is build your CSR roadmap (step 3), then comes the most unifying part: the implementation of actions!

To build your CSR approach and the associated action plan, we advise you to start from your strength :

• On what issues do you already have practices in place?
• What goals are you committed to achieving thanks to them?
• What actions, accessible in the short, medium or long term, would allow you to accelerate your progress on these themes?

You can then ask yourself similar questions for the topics you are less familiar with or where you are the most behind. Generally, the practices to be put in place around these themes are less intuitive and require more thought.

At Kiosk, we recommend that you carry out a collective intelligence workshop bringing together representatives of all professions to generate a maximum of proposals for actions to be implemented on a daily basis. Following this workshop, we recommend that you quantify the budgets associated with initiatives in order to prioritize them.

To be easy to implement, the CSR roadmap should include the list of actions by objective, who is responsible for each action, and the due date for its implementation.

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Conclusion

Out of the 5 stages of implementing a CSR approach, the CSRD has already allowed you to carry out the first 2 very rigorously. Capitalize on this work to structure your CSR approach around key themes for your business, including your internal stakeholders to define a robust and pragmatic roadmap.

Source:

https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/politiques-publiques/responsabilite-societale-entreprises

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