Raising the Bar: A Database of Emerging Good Practices in Sustainability Reporting
One of the most common questions we hear from companies beginning their sustainability reporting journey is: what does good reporting actually look like? Guidance documents and legal texts can explain what information needs to be disclosed, but they rarely show concrete examples of how to do it well. This gap between rules and practice can affect companies’ understanding of the legal framework and how to best use transparency obligations to the benefit of their business. To help bridge this gap, Frank Bold has launched a free, publicly accessible database of good and emerging practices in corporate sustainability disclosures.
What the Database Offers
Drawing on annual reports, the database showcases disclosure examples from companies that are setting a high bar for transparency on:
– Climate transition plans, risk assessments and greenhouse gas accounting
– Double materiality assessments
– Identification and management of material impacts, risks and opportunities
– Sustainability due diligence and governance-related disclosures
Each entry in the database is accompanied by expert commentary from Frank Bold’s team, explaining what makes the disclosure effective and where to find the relevant information within the source report. Users can filter by topic, country and sector, making it easy to find examples that are most relevant to a company’s own context.
Why This Matters for Companies in the CEE Region
Through the Company Climate Transition project, we have seen firsthand that companies in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria are genuinely committed to improving their sustainability performance — but many feel uncertain about whether their disclosures meet the standard expected under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
Last year, EU policy-makers drastically modified the scope of the reporting legislation as part of the Omnibus 1 Simplification package. Yet reducing the number of companies covered does not diminish the underlying need for this information — if anything, that need is intensifying. Europe’s drive toward net zero, its effort to reduce fossil fuel dependence, and the imperative to secure critical supply chains are, at their core, sustainability questions. Understanding where a company is exposed to energy price volatility, raw material scarcity, or labour exploitation in distant supply chains is not a compliance exercise. It is strategic intelligence.
Business and financial associations in Poland have just come out in March with a recommendation for large companies to continue reporting voluntarily according to the simplified ESRS.
Previous research by Frank Bold showed that while CEE companies have made significant progress — particularly on GHG reporting — there remain gaps in areas such as detailed climate transition planning and value chain due diligence. Seeing how peers and sector leaders approach these topics can provide the kind of concrete reference points that guidance documents alone cannot offer. Frank Bold’s database is build on three key principles:
– The prioritisation of information – focusing on quality over quantity
– Transparency and honesty about progress
– A focus on the most critical aspects of companies’ exposure to risks and impacts
Decision-useful and transparent sustainability information signals to the market that a company genuinely understands its risks and opportunities — and has a credible strategy to address them. Whether a company is preparing its first CSRD-aligned report or refining an established process, this database offers a practical and freely accessible starting point.
A Living Resource
The database is designed to evolve alongside the reporting landscape. Frank Bold will continue to update it with assessments of newly released sustainability reports, so it remains a relevant and current reference for companies navigating ongoing CSRD implementation.
Access to the database is free. Register to explore the examples on Frank Bold’s website.
This database was developed as part of the EUKI Company Climate Transition project, which supports companies in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria to implement effective climate transition plans and meet EU sustainability requirements.