CSRD Data Readiness: An Evidence Checklist

Confirm the reporting boundary first

The European Commission’s reporting page explains the relationship between CSRD and ESRS and links to policy developments. Have the responsible specialist record the relevant entities, reporting period, requirements and version used. Do not infer obligations from a vendor’s CSRD badge or reuse an old timeline without checking it.

European Commission: Corporate sustainability reporting. Official overview and policy timeline; applicability depends on the organisation and relevant legal text. Checked 20 September 2026.

Record how disclosure scope was decided

Keep the rationale, evidence, participants and approvals behind the materiality assessment and selected disclosures. EFRAG identifies its implementation guidance as non-authoritative support relating to the ESRS adopted in 2023. Check its version and relevance to your reporting period before adapting an example or datapoint list.

EFRAG: ESRS implementation guidance documents. Guidance for the stated ESRS version; not a readiness survey or substitute for applicable standards. Checked 20 September 2026.

Trace a value from source to disclosure

For a selected metric, record the entity, period, unit, source, calculation method, preparer and reviewer. Show how an estimate is identified and how a corrected source changes the result. Keep the supporting document and approval history accessible to the authorised reviewer.

Turn gaps into assigned work

Use descriptive statuses such as evidence available, evidence missing, owner to confirm and review required. Assign a person, action and due date to each gap. Do not convert an arbitrary average into a claim of regulatory readiness. One unresolved essential disclosure can require action even when other records are complete.

Test the proposed output and review process

Ask the provider to demonstrate the selected disclosure, evidence and requested export using your scope. Confirm format, tagging, assurance-support and retention requirements with the responsible specialists before treating them as mandatory product features. Record what is configured, separately priced or not demonstrated.

Keep the greenhouse gas basis visible

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard sets out standardised approaches and principles for building an inventory of the seven greenhouse gases it covers. For a readiness record, write on one line which standard and which edition your emissions figures follow, and on the next line who confirmed that choice. A reviewer who meets a total without that line has to rediscover the basis before they can assess the number.

GHG Protocol: Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. The standard's own page. It does not say whether any entity must report under the CSRD. Checked 3 October 2026.

Record the electricity method beside the figure

The Scope 2 Guidance addresses emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat and cooling, and its page refers to eight quality criteria for the contractual instruments used in the market-based method. Where the sample record in your exercise is an electricity value, note which method produced it and where the supplier contract or certificate is kept. If both methods can be produced, keep both in the evidence file, because a reviewer may ask for either.

GHG Protocol: Scope 2 Guidance. Guidance on purchased-energy accounting. It does not specify CSRD datapoints. Checked 3 October 2026.

Decide how value-chain figures are labelled

The Scope 3 Standard describes 15 categories of activity, upstream and downstream of an organisation's own operations. In the readiness record, list which categories you considered, which you included and the basis of any estimate, and which were left out with a reason. A gap marked as considered and excluded is easier to defend than one nobody mentions, and it tells the vendor exactly which calculations the product has to support.

GHG Protocol: Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard. The standard's page. Which categories are material for an entity is for its own assessment. Checked 3 October 2026.

Three mistakes that recur in readiness records

Three mistakes recur. The first is treating a vendor's list of supported standards as a list of your own obligations. The second is recording a metric without its period and boundary, so that a total cannot be compared with last year's. The third is marking a gap closed when the evidence has been promised but not yet seen. Use two statuses, evidence seen and evidence promised, and count only the first as progress.