CSRD & Digital Marketing: Visible Sustainability Communication
From 2025, the CSRD is extending reporting requirements to many medium-sized companies – opening new doors for digital marketing. How can your business carry out sustainability communication authentically and effectively?
Mandatory reporting on sustainability will soon affect many more businesses
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) significantly expands the existing reporting requirements for businesses operating in the EU. Environmental, social and governance or ESG data must be communicated openly and transparently. This includes information about CO₂ emissions, fair working conditions, diversity and responsible corporate governance – all disclosed in accordance with harmonized EU standards (European Sustainability Reporting Standards or ESRS). For you, this means not only reporting on sustainability, but also making targeted use of the findings and actively highlighting them in your marketing – honestly and with a strategy in mind.
#1 Highlight your brand’s sustainability performance
Instead of simply uploading a PDF of the report to your website, you should see sustainability as a key component of your content marketing strategy. Communicate openly about how your company approaches sustainability and what its aims are for the future
Let’s look at an example of good practice: outdoor clothing and equipment manufacturer Vaude. As well as communicating openly about its carbon footprint and climate targets, the German company also shares stories in Instagram posts and blog articles to explain how it’s incorporating sustainable materials into its products. This approach turns the concept of sustainability into something tangible for the target audience, which builds real trust.
#2 Involve your customers in projects
Sustainability has become a deciding factor in many consumers’ purchasing choices – making it all the more important not only to talk about how you’re taking action, but also to bring your engagement to life. One great way to do this is through projects that allow active participation by your target group or that your target group can at least keep track of and understand.
Search engine Ecosia demonstrates one way this can be done: It plants trees using the advertising revenue generated by the platform. Ecosia takes transparency to new heights: On its website and social media channels, the company details how many trees have already been planted, where exactly they’re growing and how the projects are helping local communities. Users feel that they’re contributing to a sustainable mission – with every click. This form of involvement makes sustainability tangible, promotes trust and strengthens customer loyalty in the long term. If you succeed in making projects visible and in actively communicating about them, your customers will become co-creators of a sustainable future.
#3 Turn your employees into sustainability pioneers
Authentic sustainability communication is rooted in an open and honest approach: Highlight progress and give credit where it’s due. Telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom has done exactly that in its 2024 corporate responsibility report. In the document, it presents specific initiatives carried out by employees, such as carpooling in Spain and a Plastic Cup Pirates Volunteer Day in Hungary, where more than one metric ton of trash was removed from a local river. The report also covers the rollout of sustainable search engine Ecosia to all of the company’s computers. In addition to this, Telekom has had its own sustainability team, the Green Pioneers, since 2018. This initiative is made up of employees from all over the world who actively work on sustainability projects, implement internal company plans and initiate new solutions.
So, if we turn our focus to your business, it’s a matter of looking at the company as a whole, integrating the individual corporate structures and working together to advance the transition to a more sustainable society. Encourage your employees to shape the sustainability process and actively implement their ideas.
The CSRD as a boost for modern sustainability communication and the digital customer experience
The CSRD expands the obligation for companies to report on sustainability, delivering greater transparency, comparability and credibility. What this means for you is that sustainability is becoming a brand-defining issue that your target audience must have the opportunity to experience digitally and emotionally.
“The CSRD doesn’t just introduce new reporting requirements – it also provides an opportunity to make sustainability tangible at an operational level. In digital advertising, efficiency is sustainability. Lower emissions, through optimized adtech processes, for example, also mean better performance. Those who are able to combine transparency, UX and impact can create real added value – for consumers, brands and the planet.”
Businesses that communicate ESG data in a creative, user-centric way can strengthen their brand, build trust and stand out from the competition. The big opportunity lies in linking regulatory compliance with delivering real added value for your target group. Instead of dry figures, you can tell engaging stories – about progress, values, people and concrete action. Credible sustainability communication will improve both your visibility and your relationship with customers, talent and partners. The CSRD opens up scope for innovation, especially in digital marketing: Interactive reports, visual formats, social media content and data-driven campaigns can all create new touchpoints. To have a lasting impact, however, it’s vital that your content not only informs your audience but also resonates with them on an emotional level.
Reporting on sustainability isn’t just something to check off on your to-do list. It’s an opportunity to showcase your values, develop your brand – and make sustainability your competitive advantage.
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