With sustainability reporting rapidly becoming a reality for organisations around the world, one of the most common questions we hear is simple: where do you actually start?
For many boards and finance teams, sustainability reporting feels unfamiliar, complex and resource‑intensive. While the regulatory requirements are new, the journey does not need to be overwhelming if approached in a structured and practical way.
Step 1: Take a stocktake
The first and most important step is to understand where your organisation currently stands. Sustainability reporting is rarely a greenfield exercise. Most organisations are already addressing elements of governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets — either explicitly or implicitly.
A stocktake should assess:
- What sustainability-related risks and opportunities you already address in your risk management processes and strategy (for example, environmental, social and governance topics relevant to your business)
- How your board already considers sustainability-related risks, opportunities and stakeholder expectations in oversight and decision-making
- What data is already being collected
- The level of knowledge and experience at both management and board level
This exercise provides a clear snapshot of current maturity and highlights gaps that will need to be addressed before reporting begins. For many organisations, this initial assessment also highlights that the challenge is not a lack of activity, but a lack of structure — particularly in how data is captured and managed.
Step 2: Determine your best practice appetite
Sustainability reporting standards largely require organisations to disclose what they do, rather than mandating what they must do. This creates a broad spectrum between minimum compliance and best practice.
Determining where your organisation wants to sit on this spectrum is a strategic, board‑level discussion. Sustainability reports are public documents and will be scrutinised by a wide range of stakeholders including investors, customers, suppliers, employees and regulators. Your chosen position, whether compliance‑focused or more aspirational, will directly influence the scope, complexity and resourcing of your sustainability reporting project. The earlier this decision is made, the more efficiently the project can be designed. Increasingly, this decision is influenced not only by regulatory requirements, but also by commercial considerations such as access to capital, supply chain expectations and customer requirements.
Step 3: Focus on the minimum project requirements
Regardless of your organisation’s best practice aspirations, there are four foundational projects that every organisation will need to implement as part of their sustainability reporting journey.
- Material Sustainability Topic (Risk, Opportunity and Impact) Assessment
This is the fundamental driver of all sustainability disclosures. Your sustainability report should be anchored to the sustainability-related topics that could reasonably be expected to impact your organisation, and (where relevant) the impacts your organisation has on people and the environment. An essential starting project is to identify and prioritise those material topics through a structured process, involving people from across the business and informed by stakeholder expectations. - Establish a Sustainability Data and Metrics System
Sustainability reporting often requires new or expanded data collection systems across multiple topics (for example, workforce, health and safety, supply chain, governance, resource use and, where relevant, greenhouse gas emissions). Even where data exists, it is frequently not collected with reporting-grade controls in mind. Starting early allows time to confirm definitions, test data quality, identify gaps and refine processes before you are under reporting deadlines. In many cases, organisations also consider how digital tools or platforms can support this process — helping to bring data together, apply consistent definitions and create the audit trail required for reporting and assurance. Without this, sustainability reporting can quickly become manual, fragmented and difficult to sustain as requirements evolve - Forward-Looking Analysis and Resilience Planning
Many sustainability reporting frameworks and stakeholder expectations call for organisations to explain how sustainability-related risks and opportunities are considered in strategy, and how resilient the business is under different plausible futures. This may involve scenario analysis, sensitivity testing, or other forward-looking assessments. Often these forward-looking analysis, such as scenario analysis does not need to be fully re‑performed every year, but can should be refreshed in line with your strategic planning cycle (often every 3–5 years) and reported consistently each period. Therefore, even if reporting obligations are a few years off it may be something that you can tick off the to do list early - Audit Readiness
Many sustainability disclosures are subject to assurance, and assurance expectations are increasing over time. Clear documentation of assumptions, estimates and judgements is critical. Building audit‑ready documentation from day one is significantly easier than trying to reconstruct it later. It is also important to maintain evidence to support your positions, noting that assurance information requests from auditors are likely to be broader and less prescriptive than you may be used to from financial statement audits as sustainability reporting practices continue to mature.
Why starting now matters
It will be extremely challenging to implement sustainability reporting retrospectively. Systems, processes and data collection need to be in place during the reporting period itself to ensure a smooth reporting process. Starting early also helps organisations manage competing demands, particularly as reporting expectations continue to evolve and many organisations face significant change across financial, risk and governance functions.
Importantly, sustainability reporting is increasingly driven not only by regulation, but also by investor expectations, financing requirements and broader stakeholder demands across many jurisdictions. Directors and professionals may have personal obligations in how disclosures are prepared and approved, and while many regulators have indicated a pragmatic approach during transition periods, a failure to engage with the requirements carries real risk.
The key takeaway
Sustainability reporting is a journey, not a one‑off exercise. Organisations that take a structured approach — starting with a stocktake, setting their ambition early, and investing in the four foundational projects — will be far better positioned to meet their obligations confidently and efficiently. The message is clear: whether you are just getting started or already on the path, now is the time to act.
