Do we need to report under CSRD?

Only if you fall within its scope. Since the EU changes of February 2026, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive applies to EU companies with more than 1,000 employees and more than €450 million turnover, and to large non-EU groups with substantial EU turnover. Member states have until March 2027 to put this into national law. If you are in scope, or may be soon, reporting with GRI now is a good preparation, because the ESRS are largely aligned with it. Business customers that do report can still ask you for information, within limits the EU set for companies with fewer than 1,000 employees.

What does “with reference to GRI” mean?

You use the structure of the GRI Standards for your report without meeting every requirement yet. You publish a GRI content index, include a statement of use and notify GRI. It is a recognised starting point, and a natural step towards reporting “in accordance with” GRI, where every applicable disclosure is covered or explained.

Do you only write GRI reports?

No. I also write reports in your own format. The GRI Standards help me check that a report covers what matters, even when it doesn’t follow GRI.

Is there a GRI standard for fashion?

GRI is developing a sector standard for textiles and apparel, expected to be approved at the end of 2026. Until then the general GRI Standards apply, and I help you prepare for what the sector standard will add.

How long does a report take?

A first guided report usually takes three to six months, from kick-off to publication. A check of a report you are already making takes two to three weeks.

SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING FOR FASHION, LIFESTYLE AND CONSUMER BRANDS

A sustainability report worth reading, that helps you decide what to do next.

Book a discovery call

A sustainability report shows where your impact is, what you do about it and what comes next. I write reports with brands, set up reporting frameworks so your own team can write them, and check reports that are already in the making. With or without the GRI Standards: as a GRI Certified Professional I know what a good report needs. You get a report that fits your brand, reads well for the people you write it for, and helps you make your next decisions.

You may recognise this

Your work is hard to see

Your team runs projects on materials, suppliers and circularity, and hardly anyone outside the company sees them. A report could show it, if people would read it. You want to tell that story in a way that fits your brand.

Your information is spread out

Data on materials, suppliers, emissions and people sits with different colleagues and in different files. You want one overview of where you stand, and to see where the gaps are.

You want the right structure from the start

The European reporting standards for CSRD (ESRS) are largely aligned with the GRI Standards. If you are in scope, or may be in the coming years, reporting with GRI now lets you add detail step by step, and helps your team ease into it. You want a structure that makes every next report easier.

A report is a tool: to see where your impact is, to decide what to do first, and to tell the story of your work in your own voice.

Since 2000, the number of companies reporting with the GRI Standards has grown a hundredfold. In the same years, greenhouse gas emissions and social inequality kept growing (Harvard Business Review, 2021). A report on its own changes nothing. Reporting also takes a lot of work, and that time can’t go to the work that reduces your impact. So I keep the reporting as efficient as possible, and use it for what it does well: finding your real impacts and supply chain risks, deciding where to focus, and holding yourself to account for change. And it should read like your brand.

How I can help you report

I write the report with you

From the materiality assessment to the final text: I work with your team on what goes in, collect the input, and write the report. For the design, I do the layout myself or work with your in-house designer or an external one.

A framework your team writes from

A working document that links each of your material topics to what you report, which data you need and how to word it. Your team collects the data and writes; I guide the process and review the result.

A check of your report

Your report is already in the making. I check it against the GRI Standards and against the green claims rules, and flag the gaps and the wording to change before you publish.

Reporting training

Your team learns what a good report needs, how GRI works, and how to apply it to your own company.

What a guided report looks like

PHASE 1

The framework

We start with your material topics: the impacts that matter most for your company. I map each topic to what you report, the data you need and the format, and check your materiality assessment for gaps. In a kick-off your team learns how to work with the framework.

PHASE 2

Writing, with guidance

Your team collects the data and drafts the chapters. You add your questions as comments in the document, and we meet every week or two. I give direction on what belongs in the report, and on the difference between what you want to say and what you can prove.

PHASE 3

A report that looks like your brand

In an editorial and visual briefing we decide how the report looks and reads: which figures get the big type, how each one is explained, and which images fit. Then I review the complete report, including the GRI content index and the claims, before you publish.

You get

A reporting framework mapped to your material topics

Guidance and reviews while your team writes

An editorial and visual briefing

A final review of the report and the GRI content index

Or, if I write it: the full report text

Format

A kick-off, check-ins every week or two, questions by email or in the document, an editorial and visual briefing, and a final review. Online or at your office, in Dutch or English.

Duration

A guided report usually runs over three to six months, from kick-off to publication. A check of an existing report takes two to three weeks.

Pricing

A fixed fee for the agreed scope, in the offer you receive before we start. A check of a report you are already making is a smaller, separate assignment.

With AI: I help your team use AI for the report with clear rules: illustrations yes, charts only from real data, and every AI-drafted sentence checked against the source. I can also prepare first drafts of report sections from your own documents, which I then check and rewrite.

A report doesn’t have to be a PDF. It can be a section of your website, a short magazine or a story with a data annex.

I look at what you want to say, and to whom, and choose the form that fits your brand with the least effort. At Kuyichi, the organic denim pioneer, I wrote the social report, and I am now working on its sustainability report, which will be part of the Kuyichi website.

Writing a report shows you where the gaps are, and what to do next.

Reporting work for brands

KARL LAGERFELD

A GRI REPORTING FRAMEWORK, GUIDANCE WHILE WRITING, AND AN EDITORIAL AND VISUAL BRIEFING FOR THE 2025 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT, WITH REFERENCE TO THE GRI STANDARDS

CASE STUDY

At Kuyichi, reporting is part of my work in the team, next to strategy, green claims, due diligence, certifications and training.

FAQ

Want a report worth reading?

Book a 20-minute call and tell me who asks for your report, what you already have and what you want to show. I will tell you which form of support fits. Or write to hello@thesustainabilityclub.com.

BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL