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Who Actually Steers ESG?
The sustainability figures end up in the sustainability report. The financial targets in the annual report. Often with the same board member. And yet rarely in the same steering session.
The EU has sharply reduced the group of companies subject to CSRD reporting. Those that remain report from 2027. For everyone else, ESG reporting becomes voluntary. In both cases the question remains: who actually steers this?
I often see the same pattern. Data gets built up, reports get prepared. But ask which ESG targets are concretely anchored in the plan, and the room goes quiet. Almost half of companies currently steer ESG without quantified targets. No action plan, no tracking.
Yet controllers know how to handle non-financial measures. They have done it for years: quality, cycle times, customer satisfaction. The methods exist.
What is missing is the connection: targets, measures, variance analysis. Precisely what controlling can do in its sleep.
And frankly the distinction between financial and non-financial is becoming more fragile anyway. Once CO2 has a price and supply chains demand ESG compliance, this is no longer a parallel dimension.