Column: Can You Do That With Plastic, Too? Sustainability needs doers!

As the year comes to a close, it’s time to say thank you to the people who are actually putting sustainability into practice in their companies. You haven’t had it easy in recent years: In 2024, you battled through dual materiality analyses and prepared sustainability reports; in 2025, the Omnibus Act caught you off guard; and in 2026, complex regulations like the PPWR and EmpCo presented you with some challenges.

You’ve persevered, endured frustration, and in the process come to understand your companies in a way that will benefit future leadership. After all, every executive or CEO wants to make their company “grandchild-friendly”—a synonym for sustainable. So here’s a call to all managers: Draw on the experiences of the people in your company who are putting into practice what’s written in your visions and missions regarding “sustainability.” After all, the challenges aren’t getting any easier, as illustrated here by the example of the CSRD:

Starting as early as January 2027, large companies (>1,000 employees, >450 million euros in revenue) will be required to report on sustainability. At that time, companies will be required to report on sustainability in accordance with the Revised ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards). This includes climate targets, transition plans outlining how these targets will be achieved, and many other metrics that describe the company’s social, environmental, and economic performance. This requires deep insights into the organization, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the ability to explain to people why, in addition to their regular work, they are also expected to provide metrics for the sustainability report. In recent years, sustainability officers have increasingly learned that people who understand the “why” are more inclined to cooperate.

So here’s a brief digression: “Why should companies report on sustainability at all?”

Why Is Reporting Required?

The EU aims to combine economic growth with environmental protection, and this requires investment in sustainable economic activities. The EU Taxonomy defines what constitutes a sustainable economic activity: namely, an economic activity that, first, contributes to one of the EU’s environmental objectives; second, does not undermine any of the other environmental objectives; and third, meets minimum social standards. To now channel capital market funds into these sustainable economic activities, transparency and comparability must be established. Only when companies disclose, in a standardized format (the ESRS), the extent to which they operate sustainably can investors, such as banks, evaluate their potential investments accordingly and offer more favorable terms to particularly sustainable companies.

Explaining these background details to people in large companies can be challenging. It is somewhat easier in companies with fewer than 1,000 employees, as a voluntary, greatly simplified reporting standard—known as the Voluntary Standard (VS)—has been developed specifically for them. This standard is aligned with the Revised ESRS, meaning that large companies required to collect sustainability information from their supply chains may only request the specific data included in the VS. The VS thus acts as a shield against bureaucracy for smaller companies.

The preparation of sustainability reports is just one example of the future challenges facing sustainability officers; however, it illustrates the opportunity to gain a new perspective on the company and to identify its strengths, weaknesses, and new areas of focus. Sustainability management—despite all the extra effort it entails—should therefore not be viewed as merely fulfilling an obligation, but rather as a vehicle for turning the vision of a future-ready company into reality. This requires people like you who understand the big picture, inspire others, and work toward the vision of “future-readiness” despite headwinds!