SG and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) present pharmaceutical companies with major challenges—and at the same time offer enormous opportunities. The industry must now increasingly face its environmental and social responsibility and engage with ESG topics.
The introduction of the CSRD as part of the European Green Deal obliges pharmaceutical companies to report in detail on their environmental and social impacts as well as on their strategies for dealing with these impacts. This not only means increased compliance pressure, but also opens up the opportunity to position themselves as pioneers of a sustainable and future-oriented industry.
With the implementation of the CSRD into national law and the phased introduction starting with the 2024 reporting year, around 15,000 companies in Germany will in future fall under the new reporting obligation, provided they are capital-market-oriented (with the exception of micro-enterprises) or meet two of the following three criteria: > 25 million euros balance sheet total, > 50 million euros turnover and more than 250 employees.
In implementing the directive, the Omnibus has triggered an extensive discussion that will not lead to concrete results until the end of 2025. Nevertheless, pharmaceutical companies should not wait and should address the requirements early on, because the first reports will be due quickly.
To integrate excellent reporting processes in your company, you need CSRD software that matches your requirements. In this article, we share our know-how from over 700 ESG matchings for SMEs and corporations (with a high proportion from the pharmaceutical industry) and offer you an individual CSRD software comparison according to your criteria with over 60 providers.
You are already familiar with the topic of sustainability reporting and would like to receive suggestions directly for CSRD software providers that suit your company? Then, with one click, you can go directly
The specific design of the CSRD disclosure requirements—i.e., what and how your company must report on sustainability—is not defined by the German implementation act, but by the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which, as EU Delegated Regulation 2023/2772, have been applicable since 1 January 2024 for companies within the scope of the CSRD and thus also for many pharmaceutical companies.
With a total of 10 topical standards and two cross-cutting standards, the ESRS cover environmental, social and governance aspects as well as general reporting requirements and disclosures, and thus comprise a total of 84 disclosure requirements, such as strategies, targets, action plans and metrics. These disclosure requirements in turn include a total of 1,178 data points (!).
But don’t worry: as a company, it is important for you to know that you do not have to report on all standards, but only on those that are material to you. This is where the cross-cutting standards ESRS 1 and 2 come into play, as they set the framework for reporting.
The starting point of the CSRD process is carrying out a due diligence analysis as well as a double materiality assessment to identify the sustainability topics that are material for your company. Both processes interlock and are regulated as important components of CSRD reporting in ESRS 1. In addition, EFRAG provides you with a comprehensive guidance document for implementing the materiality assessment .
The due diligence analysis serves to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for actual and potential adverse impacts on the environment and people that your company causes or contributes to through its business activities, products or services. Due diligence is an ongoing process that, among other things, aims at sustainability-related changes to strategy, the business model and business relationships, and also represents an important first step with regard to carrying out the double materiality assessment.
In comparison with other sectors, the pharmaceutical industry faces particularly complex challenges. Global supply chains and the production of life-saving medicines have significant impacts on people and the environment—both in the countries of production and in those where the medicines are used.
A study from 2019 shows, for example, that CO2 emissions from the pharmaceutical industry are significantly higher than those of the automotive industry. Another major problem is the burden on ecosystems caused by pharmaceutical residues that enter bodies of water and can cause considerable damage there.
Packaging waste and the emergence of antibiotic resistance are also major challenges arising from the production and use of medicines. In addition, raw material sourcing is a critical area, particularly dependence on a small number of producing countries, where problematic environmental and labour standards often prevail.
The CSRD forces companies to identify and document all these potential and actual adverse environmental and social impacts and to develop strategies to minimise them. And this is where the double materiality assessment comes in. Building on the findings of due diligence, it identifies the sustainability aspects that are material for your company and determines which sustainability topics and sub-topics your company will have to report on in future. It also considers the opportunities for your company that arise from a sustainability perspective.
These include the three areas of Environment, Social and Governance with their topics (e.g., water and marine resources), sub-topics (e.g., water) and sub-sub-topics (e.g., water withdrawal). Materiality can be determined at all three topic levels and thus oblige your company to report accordingly.
To this end, you must define assessment criteria for the materiality assessment yourself and can define qualitative and quantitative thresholds that determine whether sustainability aspects are material or not. The use of scales is common, e.g., from 1 to 10.
For assessing the individual sustainability topics, the involvement of relevant internal and external stakeholders—e.g., staff, NGOs, supervisory authorities, etc.—is essential, as these processes are later also reviewed as part of the assurance by the auditor and therefore must be well documented.
In addition to the numerous sustainability challenges, the CSRD also offers you concrete opportunities to drive sustainable innovations forward. You should identify, report on, and manage these opportunities as part of CSRD reporting, because ultimately they also contribute to the goals your company defines within the CSRD reporting framework—and whose progress must be reported on annually. For example, if you have set yourself the goal of reducing GHG emissions or shifting toward sustainable business models and products, you will in future also have to report on your progress toward these goals in your CSRD reports.
One option for such sustainability innovations is the shift to biotechnological production processes. The example of producing the malaria active ingredient artemisinin shows how biotechnological innovations can reduce environmental impact. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have succeeded in doubling the yield of the active ingredient per unit of cultivated land by switching to semi-synthetic production. This means the active ingredient is produced in a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective way, improving access to the previously expensive medication.
In addition, the use of renewable energy in production offers an excellent opportunity to improve the CO2 footprint. Some pharmaceutical companies are already relying on solar or wind energy to reduce their environmental impact. The CSRD makes such measures visible and enables them to position themselves as pioneers in sustainability. This not only strengthens the trust of investors and customers, but also improves your market position. Environmental innovations in the area of blister packaging can also improve resource use and contribute to progress in addressing the waste problem in the pharmaceutical industry.
To successfully meet the CSRD requirements and leverage the opportunities associated with them, you should consider the following steps:
Developing robust value chains
Analyze your value creation in detail and ensure that it meets environmental and social standards.
Introducing digital solutions
Use technologies such as blockchain to increase supply chain transparency and simplify reporting.
Switching to sustainable production methods
Consider switching to sustainable processes and using renewable energy to improve the CO2 footprint and reduce environmental impacts.
Partnerships with sustainable suppliers
Work with suppliers that demonstrably adhere to sustainable practices and implement Supplier Relationship Management for transparent documentation and product innovations.
With the national implementation of the CSRD, the group of companies required to report also expands compared to the EU Taxonomy. If your company falls within the scope of the CSRD, in future you will also have to report, in accordance with Article 8 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation (2020/852) in conjunction with Delegated Regulation 2021/2178, what proportion of your revenue, capital expenditures and operating expenditures is eligible to meet the criteria of the Taxonomy Regulation and what proportion already meets them.
A suitable software solution can also help you with this. TIP: To find the software provider that is right for you, simply fill out the match assistant for a CSRD provider comparison at the end of this article.
Your industry is particularly affected by the CSRD—as described. The requirements for legally compliant reporting are very high. We therefore recommend starting with CSRD consulting, which will also support you in choosing a suitable software provider. Of course, you will need to budget more for this—but this investment will pay off in the end and conserve your internal resources. Please give us a corresponding note via your match request below that you are also looking for suitable CSRD/ESG consulting! We will be your sparring partner here as well and name providers that meet exactly your requirements.
If you are already very familiar with all ESG regulations, start our CSRD software provider comparison directly.
Due diligence, double materiality analysis, ESRS, CO2 accounting, EU taxonomy, etc. – you’ve surely already realized the level of complexity you will be facing (or already are) with regard to your ESG reporting, and how large the volume of data will be that you’ll need to manage.
Implementing the CSRD entails risks that can be reduced through targeted measures. A key issue is collecting detailed environmental data across the entire supply chain. If raw materials are sourced from different countries with different environmental standards, it can be difficult to provide the required data to the necessary level of detail. Digital solutions such as blockchain technology can help increase transparency in the supply chain and ensure that reporting meets CSRD requirements.
Using CSRD tools and other ESG software solutions is essential to efficiently meet reporting and compliance requirements. One thing is certain: sustainability will become a discipline of its own for all companies (regardless of industry). With the right internal and technical structures you choose now, you can successfully manage it within your company.
The CSRD offers companies in the pharmaceutical industry concrete opportunities to use sustainability as a strategic lever for innovation and growth. By responding to these requirements early on, you not only secure long-term competitiveness, but also minimize risks and strengthen the trust of investors and customers.
As you can tell from this article, at Matchilla we engage very intensively with the topic of CSRD reporting tools and continuously and carefully screen the market for our platform users. Our database contains over 60 CSRD software providers active in the German-speaking region—documented with hard and soft factors such as functions, modules, reporting standards, interfaces, consulting and industry expertise, pricing, and much more.
You can now benefit from this unique market overview and from the expertise we have gained from almost 700 CSRD and ESG matchings (including more than 30 from the pharmaceutical industry—corporations and mid-sized companies): We are happy to support you from the CSRD software criteria catalog all the way to the final provider selection and save you a lengthy market research process.
Through our individualized matching, we identify for you, in a shortlist (we call it a Matchboard), the three reporting solution providers that fit you best as a company. This requires only a few minutes of your time. If your challenges are more complex, we provide you with a comprehensive criteria catalog so you can make an even more detailed selection.
This comparison of CSRD tool providers is non-binding, free of charge, and anonymous vis-à-vis the providers.
Would you like to know which CSRD solution best fits your requirements? Simply fill out the Match Assistant.
Providers in the matching: 63 (last update: 21 June 2025)
The search for a suitable software application is easy and super fast via Matchilla. We got in touch, formulated specifications, and after just a few days the results were there. This way, we also obtained information about software we hadn’t heard of before. Real added value. Thank you, Matchilla.
Ulli Theves is Head of ESG Matchings at Matchilla and has already supported several major pharmaceutical companies in selecting the right CSRD service providers. In MatchZINE, he shares his expertise and regularly publishes news and useful information on ESG.
