The EU CSRD requires ~50,000 large EU + non-EU companies to publish detailed ESRS-aligned sustainability reports — and African suppliers feed that report via Scope 3 data. Suppliers who deliver ESRS data win the contract; those who can't, lose it. Here's the playbook.
<p class="lead"><strong>The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires roughly 50,000 large EU and non-EU companies to publish detailed sustainability disclosures</strong> under the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). Reporting starts for FY2024 (largest companies) and rolls out through FY2028 to listed SMEs and non-EU companies with significant EU revenue. Disclosures span the company's full value chain — meaning <strong>your data flows up into your EU buyer's report</strong>. Suppliers who deliver ESRS-aligned data win the EU contract. Those who can't, lose it.</p> <h2>What CSRD requires</h2> <p>The CSRD obliges in-scope companies to publish:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Double-materiality disclosure</strong> — both the company's impact on environment + society AND environment + society's impact on the company.</li> <li><strong>ESRS-aligned data</strong> across 12 standards (2 cross-cutting + 10 topical) covering environment (E1-E5), social (S1-S4), and governance (G1).</li> <li><strong>Value-chain coverage</strong> — Scope 1 (own emissions), Scope 2 (purchased energy), and Scope 3 (purchased goods + services + downstream) emissions, plus value