According to the majority of companies, ESG reporting is a business advantage

The Hungarian Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSDH) conducted an ESG survey among its member companies for the second time in 2023, with KPMG as its professional partner. In the survey, 70 companies from 14 industries shared their experiences along the lines of 22 questions, in which the respondents addressed, among other things, their ESG reporting and data collection habits, the main motivating and limiting factors that can be linked to this, and also the role of ESG in the life of their organizations.

According to 90 percent of the participants in the survey, in the next 5 years, their business advantage can come from ESG-based reports, which is why six out of ten companies (61 percent) already regularly prepare ESG reports, most often at the international or parent company level and based on the GRI standard. Many people have already encountered the upcoming legal requirement, the ESRS standards according to the CSRD, but their application is still limited. Companies that already prepare an ESG report and those that plan to prepare one have a similar preference for a separate (34 percent) or integrated (33 percent) report format for disclosing their ESG data. Among the main motivating factors for ESG reporting are increasing reputation, meeting owner expectations and meeting regulatory expectations.

61 percent of companies believe that they are prepared for CSRD obligations, reporting has already become a practice for them, while 84 percent of them publicly publish information about their company’s performance.