More than a third of the companies represented in the survey had already published sustainability statements, mostly under CSRD. Many pointed to several factors that, in retrospect, would have improved the reporting process, including more effective apply of technology, increased investment, greater cross‑functional collaboration and starting earlier.
More effective apply of technology and software
As regulatory regimes evolve, Irish companies with operations across multiple territories face increasingly complex reporting demands, including overlapping and sometimes divergent disclosure requirements. Organisations must prioritise interoperability, understand where frameworks intersect or diverge, and build common data foundations to streamline sustainability reporting across jurisdictions.
Many companies are purchaseing or building technology tools and infrastructure for efficient, repeatable reporting. Among those that have already reported, technology adoption has increased over the last year, with more than half now utilizing central sustainability data storage, carbon calculation, and disclosure management tools.
The most common AI apply cases relate to drafting or summarising disclosures, identifying risks and opportunities, and collecting, integrating, and validating data from multiple systems. For each apply case, many more respondents are still exploring or piloting AI tools rather than embedding them into workflows, highlighting that most organisations remain at an early stage of adoption.
