Dylan Siegler

For more than a year, European sustainability executives have been focused on how they would comply with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the EU regulation requiring third-party assured disclosures of climate targets, greenhouse gas emissions, governance and more. Now, as CSRD goes into effect for the reporting year starting in January, they’re illuminating ways regulation is already changing corporate sustainability.

Joe Hanson’s general interest YouTube channel Be Smart has 4.97 million subscribers. Interspersed with other science content, he routinely garners hundreds of thousands of views of his videos dispelling myths about climate change. Environmentalist and creator Leah Thomas talks up climate justice to her 256,000 instagram followers.

Among corporate sustainability professionals, I often hear a behind-the-scenes code phrase: “We’re not Patagonia.” I’m doing the best I can, it implies, but: …our business was built on a model that is fundamentally bad for the environment. …our customers will buy our products regardless of how sustainable they are. …our impact on nature is far away and indirect. …paying our workers more would threaten profitability. …truly engaging with communities is expensive and risky.