{"id":11024,"date":"2026-01-15T12:46:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/csrd-in-practice-when-reporting-becomes-strategic\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T12:47:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:47:37","slug":"csrd-in-practice-when-reporting-becomes-strategic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/insights\/csrd-in-practice-when-reporting-becomes-strategic\/","title":{"rendered":"CSRD in practice: when reporting becomes strategic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In a recent interview during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csrdday.nl\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CSRD Day<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"607\" height=\"655\" src=\"https:\/\/empact.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CSRD-day-podcast-1.jpg\" alt=\"CSRD Day podcast with Martin de Jong\" class=\"wp-image-11018\" srcset=\"https:\/\/empact.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CSRD-day-podcast-1.jpg 607w, https:\/\/empact.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CSRD-day-podcast-1-278x300.jpg 278w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 607px) 100vw, 607px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A more mature conversation about sustainability<\/h2>\n\n<p>What Martin notices in the conversations around CSRD: the language is changing. &#8220;The morality is going out,&#8221; he explains. &#8220;We&#8217;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.&#8221;  <\/p>\n\n<p>He also sees that shift with clients. In the podcast, he talks about <a href=\"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/insights\/customer-story-otto-work-force-makes-impact-with-empact-the-csrd-is-really-a-springboard\/\">Otto Work Force<\/a>, a labor migration company. &#8220;They were here today to talk about what <a href=\"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/csrd-advice\/\">CSRD reporting<\/a> 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.&#8221;    <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CSRD as a compass, not a checklist<\/h2>\n\n<p>Martin&#8217;s main point: CSRD should not become an end in itself. &#8220;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.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n<p>He invites organizations to look beyond compliance. &#8220;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&#8217;t let it distract you from the fact that sustainability is an essential issue for almost all organizations.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n<p>The full conversation is about what really drives organizations, not reporting requirements. About real strategic choices rather than low-hanging fruit. About <a href=\"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/esg-implementation\/\">integrating ESG into your operations<\/a> instead of filling out forms.  <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Curious about the full conversation?<\/h2>\n\n<p><br\/>Listen to the podcast episode on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/1t0WZka6D1MpR1pEXkf0EN?si=7Q8H2eyTSveCEJ3-aoeTuw&amp;nd=1&amp;dlsi=40c709ae86c84be7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spotify<\/a> and hear Martin de Jong talk to several experts during CSRD Day about the practice of sustainability reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empact.nu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}