Case study - ESG Advisory for Corporates

A large multinational with its headquarters in the US realised they need to comply with CSRD and report on its activities in 2025.  
The management is largely centralised in the US. Nevertheless, they felt the necessity to be fully compliant in Europe as well. Considering their stakeholders being under the scrutiny of climate activists and unions after negative press coverage on their European operations.   

On a global level, they were already reporting on their ESG efforts under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Yet as their activities in Europe cover a small portion of their global operations, this content is only partially relevant there. 

Challenge 

The group’s management struggled to determine the correct scope of companies subject to CSRD, and what possibilities or choices they could make.  

Furthermore, they had no view on how big the additional effort will be. They desired to set this process up centrally with their Sustainability team in the US, using the knowledge and processes in place. 

It was crucial for the group’s management that their auditor was being consulted along the way, ensuring there were no surprises in the end. 


BDO’s Tailored Approach & Solutions 

Legal support on the determination of what companies are in scope, and what decisions they can make

Gap assessment 

  • Upskilling CSRD/ESRS for their Sustainability team 

  • Double Materiality Assessment 

    • Research and documentation on their value chain and best practices 

    • Impact, Risk and Opportunities analysis 

    • Stakeholder consultation

    • Scoring of potential list of topics 

  • De datapunten beoordelen 

    • Selection of relevant qualitative and quantitative datapoints  

    • Conversion to actual KPI’s 

  • Datapoint Collection plan 

  • Blueprint report (high-level structure) 

How did we do it?

  1. Connecting with their compliance officers about the scoping decision 

  1. Interviews and trainings (online) with the companies’ US-based team 

  1. 3 workshops with the management team to take decisions 

  1. Back-office work processing all information 

  1. Meetings with internal and external stakeholders  

 


esg voor grote bedrijven


Time spent on this project

By the company

The total time spent by the companies’ team was twenty man-days. Next to that, ad hoc meetings (limited in duration) were organised with others.

By BDO

Our experts worked a total of forty-eight man-days on this project.

The main focus areas of the company’s management should be their impact on the environment and the end consumers. With clear goals such as measuring their CO2 footprint and aiming to reduce it with 25% in three years time, and deepening their communication towards end consumers. 

During the project, we have been requested to assist the management with specific items such as: 

  • Support with the CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) set-up 

  • A keynote to the Global management team, ensuring they are aware of the European ESG evolutions 

  • advice on what tooling is relevant to facilitate the reporting process 


Impact and results

Along the way, BDO’s ESG experts documented all steps which in the end lead to an insightful document (60 slides) covering all topics. Additionally, a formal Double Materiality Assessment position paper was prepared. 

 The auditor was consulted 3 times during the project. During short update meetings they were brought up to speed and later agreed with the approach, providing comfort that the output is compliant.  

The company especially appreciated:  

  • The quality in terms of deliverables, yet providing pragmatic options, where possible within the boundaries of the CSRD regulation

  • Support from our experts at the ESG Competence Centre on niche and detailed questions 


  • Full flexibility along the way, getting the option to limit or increase the efforts in each step, but only after explaining the pro’s and contra’s of doing so  

  • Talking with the auditor to ensure they agreed with how ESG is being approached and how it will be translated in the companies’ report 


Any questions about ESG? Don't hesitate to contact our expert Ignace Robberechts