Despite the complexity, mandatory sustainability reporting has largely acted as an accelerator. By placing sustainability reporting on par with financial reporting, new regulations are prompting closer collaboration between sustainability, finance, risk and legal teams. Sustainability is increasingly embedded in core corporate functions and decision-making, as business and sustainability begin to speak the same language. New regulations have brought the value chain into sharper focus. Companies are now expected to map, understand and disclose their impacts, risks and opportunities – as well as key dependencies, resources and relationships – across the entire value chain, not just their direct operations. This reveals critical dependencies and risks that may have been previously overlooked, encouraging deeper engagement with suppliers, partners, and customers. The lens has shifted from morality to materiality. Double Materiality has become an established leading practice, helping companies identify and assess their most significant impacts, risks and opportunities. This focus on what truly matters – to both business and society – is essential to accelerating meaningful progress even with the growing headwinds facing sustainability. Stricter data requirements are also pushing companies to strengthen their controls and improve data quality. In doing so, they are gaining greater clarity on impacts and building the foundations to integrate sustainability more effectively into decision-making across the business. The aim of regulations like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is clear: to improve transparency and accountability across corporate sustainability reporting and accelerate the shift to more sustainable business models. When used strategically, the reporting process becomes more than a compliance exercise. It becomes a lever for transformation, enabling companies to reframe sustainability from a cost to a business imperative that manages risk and unlocks opportunity. Sustainability reporting has undergone significant evolution in recent years, with the shift from voluntary to mandatory reporting leading to more robust and comparable disclosures. This has also brought challenges. As companies navigate the practical demands of expanded reporting, diverging reporting across jurisdictions and varying organizational capacities are widening gaps in the quality and availability of disclosures, both geographically and within industries. Embedding change, accelerating impact Leveraging sustainability reporting as a strategic tool