Corporate sustainability has reached an inflection point. After years of bold commitments and pledges, stakeholders are asking a more urgent question: What’s real?
Without evidence, even well-intentioned climate claims risk eroding trust and undermining the transition they’re meant to support.
To retain credibility, companies must move from declarations to demonstrable proof grounded in data that is measured, verified, and credible. This shift is now defining the expectations for sustainability reporting.
This is no easy task in a landscape shaped by shifting regulations, supply chain disruptions, and vague timelines.
Take, for instance, the EU’s decision to delay key reporting requirements under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. While intended to give companies breathing space, it created new uncertainty for businesses planning compliance and disclosure.
In this climate, companies need reporting approaches that turn commitments into verifiable outcomes.
This can bring greater clarity and confidence to their sustainability reporting by grounding their claims in verifiable data and adopting transparent measurement frameworks. To withstand scrutiny, organisations require robust, transparent tools that link business actions to measurable environmental impacts supported by independent verification.
Measuring what matters
With 36 jurisdictions moving to adopt the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards, 17 of which have already finalised their requirements, there is a decisive global shift. Sustainability reporting is becoming a fundamental expectation rather than a voluntary exercise.
Credibility in sustainability reporting is far more than a numbers game. It depends on integrity, transparency, and independent assurance.
In forest supply chains, systems like FSC certification already provide companies with independently verified evidence of nature-related impacts.
Businesses must also show how environmental changes could affect their financial resilience over time. By embracing this dual perspective, companies can better identify risks, protect value, and strengthen long-term stability.
Growing scrutiny from regulators, investors, and customers means the question is no longer if organisations need credible proof, it’s how they’ll deliver it. The momentum is already visible.
According to Workiva’s 2025 Executive Benchmark on Integrated Reporting, which surveyed 1,600 global leaders, 85% plan to move forward with sustainability disclosures regardless of regulatory timelines, and 97% believe robust reporting creates a competitive edge. The takeaway is clear: credibility pays dividends.
The lingering credibility gap, and what’s being done to solve it
The surge in corporate sustainability commitments have multiplied, but the ability to prove real impact hasn’t kept pace.
Data from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) illustrates this gap. Fewer than 40% of companies have a full picture of their value-chain emissions, especially in the Scope 3 categories that make up the largest share of most carbon footprints. Without clear, reliable data, sustainability reporting can fall short of the credibility that stakeholders expect.
Initiatives such as FSC’s Verified Impact are bridging this gap and offering a practical tool to provide audit-ready data that confirms real results.
Whether this is forest conservation efforts, species protection or measuring the community benefits, being able to demonstrate the real-world impact is key to not only building trust with consumers and supply chains, but also in safeguarding resources and reputations.
The challenge is hard to ignore. The latest Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor from 2025 found that none of the 20 major corporations it evaluated had an entirely credible climate strategy – a worrying finding.
Most received poor or very poor ratings, with even the more ambitious organisations falling short of the scale and pace required to align with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target.
The investment landscape tells a similar story. According to the World Investment Report 2024, sustainable finance markets continued to expand in 2023, but momentum is slowing as investors seek stronger evidence behind sustainability claims.
Even with the global green economy rebounding to around US $7.2 trillion in market value, confidence has yet to catch up with the ambition.
That’s why consistent and data-driven frameworks (such as the CSRD, TNFD, ISSB and IFRS), alongside sector-specific tools are becoming increasingly important. They help to make sustainability data measurable, transparent and, ultimately, credible.
Uniting finance and sustainability
For many businesses today, the challenge isn’t choosing between financial success and sustainability, but it’s about how do they bring these two together.
As expectations grow, finance and sustainability leaders need to work from the same set of facts and goals. When they do, they build organisations that are open about their impact, thus better able to adapt to change due to their transparency and resilience.
It all starts with proof. Real progress means being able to show that actions are really delivering results – results that can be measured and trusted.
Companies that embed verification into their everyday decisions are the ones that build lasting confidence in all areas of their business. Investing in solid data and honest reporting, as well as aligning environmental goals with day-to-day processes, ultimately will strengthen both trust and resilience.
