Sustainability Insights

CSRD Adoption in the DAX40: ESG Reporting is Coming of Age

  • Katharina Hombach
  • Maximilian A. Müller
  • Thorsten Sellhorn
  • Victor Wagner
  • Lea Hagemeier
  • CSRD
  • ESRS

Our study provides an exploratory analysis of the first-time ESRS reporting in the 2024 sustainability statements of some of the largest “first-wave” firms in the EU. It focuses on criteria of common interest, such as report volume, the topics covered, as well as specific disclosure and adoption choices. The analysis benchmarks the DAX40 companies’ 2024 sustainability reports against their 2023 sustainability reports and their financial reports. The study combines manual collection of ESRS application features with algorithmic assessment of disclosure topics and textual characteristics. The analyses presented in this report are a preview of the large-scale study “Targeting transparency: early evidence on mandatory adoption of ESRS” that is currently being conducted by the SRN team as a registered report.

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