In a recent interview during CSRD Day, Martin de Jong, founder of Empact, spoke to the BusySeasonTalks podcast about how organizations get real value from sustainability reporting. His message? CSRD is not a monster to be tamed, but a tool to strengthen your business.
A more mature conversation about sustainability
What Martin notices in the conversations around CSRD: the language is changing. “The morality is going out,” he explains. “We’re talking more and more about what really drives a company and what it means for operations. Not only for people, nature and the environment, but also for the strategy itself.”
He also sees that shift with clients. In the podcast, he talks about Otto Work Force, a labor migration company. “They were here today to talk about what CSRD reporting has given them. The main message was not a nice annual report, but a better understanding of their own strategy. Things they needed to change in their operations to really operate transparently and honestly as a frontrunner in migrant labor in the Netherlands.”
CSRD as a compass, not a checklist
Martin’s main point: CSRD should not become an end in itself. “It is a tool for companies to know what they can do about sustainability and in what way. I feel like organizations sometimes forget that. Especially with all the focus on omnibus and simplification.”
He invites organizations to look beyond compliance. “Sustainability is just important. Explore what that means for your organization, in what ways it creates or destroys value. If CSRD helps with that, do it. But don’t let it distract you from the fact that sustainability is an essential issue for almost all organizations.”
The full conversation is about what really drives organizations, not reporting requirements. About real strategic choices rather than low-hanging fruit. About integrating ESG into your operations instead of filling out forms.
Curious about the full conversation?
Listen to the podcast episode on Spotify and hear Martin de Jong talk to several experts during CSRD Day about the practice of sustainability reporting.