PwC develops solution for automated CSRD reporting

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has long believed that joining the battle against climate change is one of the most significant actions a company can take to benefit society. The multinational professional services leader is hardly alone. At many companies, executives are advocating for comprehensive environmental measures, investors are demanding more sustainable ventures, and customers are increasingly seeking low-carbon products to combat pollution and preserve biodiversity.

In Europe, this attitude has become law, with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) mandating that companies disclose its Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) efforts in annual reports, based on European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). Depending on the company’s size, the ESRS will start being mandatory in annual reports for fiscal year 2024 – based on actions taken during the current financial year.

The challenges to accomplishing this are substantial. Despite the amount of expertise on the topic, the multiplicity of subject matter and regulations have caused confusion about the correct interpretation of standards, the optimal methods for calculating data, and the most effective approaches for implementation. The CSRD and the associated ESRS require reporting along the entire value chain based on double materiality and multiple mandatory disclosures. Many data points must be collected from various source systems before they are linked for calculation. 

PwC empowers its customers to achieve successful CSRD reporting by offering a comprehensive understanding of the underlying CSRD methodology. PwC provides guidance on data integration, along with best practices for KPI calculation, enabling customers to harmonize information and to build up a single source of truth. While improving reporting efficiency, this support is also helping organizations achieve their sustainability goals by making their ESG performance transparent.

Sustainability control tower by SAP

For more than 150 years, PwC has been working with companies to develop and utilize technologies and implement new strategies. Although there is various software created to automate and streamline ESG reporting, the solutions are only as effective as the assembled data. PwC already had a long-standing partnership with the world’s leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) software vendor SAP and they decided to extend that alliance while developing a comprehensive solution to help clients meet the CSRD requirements. 

With the new Sustainability Control Tower (SCT), SAP developed a specific solution to report overall sustainability performance. SAP SCT’s features include pre-built data models containing metrics that can be customized or even created from scratch. To facilitate the implementation and use of SAP SCT, the solution can be easily integrated within existing SAP landscapes, saving resources and time while guaranteeing operational continuity.

Shaping the future of ESG reporting

With the “ESG Reporting Manager – CSRD,” PwC offers an efficient and audit-proof solution for the implementation of sustainability reporting based on the latest SAP technology. It includes an automated calculation of quantitative ESRS reporting requirements (disclosure requirements) as well as standardized collection of qualitative information using questionnaires and workflows, developed in SAP Build. Predefined dashboards in SAP Analytics Cloud including various analysis options open a wide range of possibilities for fact-based management based on the new key figures. 

PwC’s content is provided via dedicated packages that extend the performance and functionalities of the SAP solutions. The focus is either on the SAP Datasphere or the Sustainability Control Tower (SCT) as the central hub for sustainability data. The target architecture can be customized according to a client’s individual system landscapes. 

The two options differ regarding the core component, SAP Datasphere or SAP SCT, which is ultimately used as a single source of truth for sustainability reporting. Both options offer ready-made data models for calculating the required sustainability metrics, which can be customized and combined with additional tables and sources. 

Positive feedback from the market

Among the PwC clients to take advantage of the platform was MEWA, a leader in the European textile management industry for supplying international organizations with products such as work and protective clothing, foot and oil spill mats, and cleaning cloths.

The partnership between PwC and MEWA has proved to be a remarkable success story. PwC’s “ESG Reporting Manager – CSRD”, together with SAP SCT, has been chosen as the preferred solution to meet the sustainability reporting needs mandated by the CSRD. Leveraging its extensive technological capabilities and specialized consulting services, PwC has positioned itself as the ideal partner to support Mewa in seamlessly implementing CSRD regulations and reaching its sustainability objectives. This collaboration instills confidence that MEWA will effectively showcase its dedication to sustainable practices while improving overall reporting efficiency.

For its SAP-based software development, PwC was singled out as a winner in the “Partner Paragon” category at the 2024 SAP Innovation Awards, a global program designed to honor and celebrate organizations pushing the boundaries of innovation. To learn how they accomplished this feat, you can read their pitch deck here.