Finding CSRD and SFDR data for compliance in a data-lacking world
By Impact Institute
This article is part of our new Impact Expert Series, where we speak with the world’s leading experts in impact measurement and management – offering solutions to pressing societal, environmental and impact-related challenges.
The Global Impact Database (GID) for compliance and impact
In today’s rapidly evolving regulatory landscape, businesses are facing the pressure to comply with European frameworks such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). As these regulations become mandatory for more organisations, the demand for robust and trustworthy data grows. The Global Impact Database (GID), Impact Institute’s award-winning database that has been helping clients for over a decade, serves as a vital database for organisations striving not only to meet compliance requirements, but to understand and act on their environmental and social impacts.
Anne Mesguich, Product Owner of the GID and working at the nexus of our Technology, Research and Consulting teams, provided numerous professionals with data for various impact projects. She holds a master’s degree in finance from Erasmus University Rotterdam, where she heard Adrian de Groot Ruiz, CEO Impact Institute, speak in one of her courses. “He talked about true pricing and internalising social and environmental externalities in products prices. The concept really spoke to me, so I applied, because I wanted to do something that makes the world a better place.”
Fast forward, six years later she developed into an expert on environmental and social data. She learned everything about data and software on the job. Daily, Anne works on exploring and understanding the needs of GID users, ensuring data availability and establishing the link between these two. Her experience with the GID gives her unique insights into the challenges of data collection for regulations such as CSRD and SFDR. In this article she shares how the GID provides solutions.
SFDR and CSRDs ask for data
The SFDR, which took effect on 10 March 2021, marked an important shift towards a more transparent and sustainable European investment landscape. Every financial market participant or financial advisor based in the EU must report on sustainability risks that might impact financial performance.
Similarly, the CSRD, entered into force on 5 January 2023, mandates that a larger number of companies report on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Reporting started this year for large, listed public companies, followed by a broader range of companies in 2026, all of whom need data for reporting.
“Listed companies are quite familiar with reporting some ESG data, it is becoming standard practice for them”, Anne explains. But from our experience we know private companies have a hard time in collecting the necessary data for reporting.”
A database for complex value chains
Providing companies with data is exactly what the GID does. It is a top-down database offering global sector coverage across 65 sectors and 140 countries, encompassing around 20 to 30 impact indicators, such as climate change, air pollution and forced labor in the value chain. It covers both environmental and social impacts, offering data that is both quantitative and qualitative.
Essentially, the GID is a large data integration platform. We maintain current data and integrate better data. Anne: “For example, most of our environmental data comes from Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP), and our trade data is sourced there too. For social impacts, we use sources like ILOSTAT and the Social Hotspots Database (SHDB).” The team focuses on improving the database by looking for new data sources, working on better data granularity (the level of detail of the data), and improving the access to our data for users.
The extensive coverage makes the GID a versatile database for organisations, particularly within the financial sector and food sector – as the complexity of value chains and the diverse nature of investments demand big amounts of trustworthy data. For example, Danske Bank, DBS Bank, UBS, Itau, and many more clients already used the GID for impactful projects.
A key differentiator of the GID is its ability to quantify impacts not only in terms of metrics (e.g. CO2 emissions, water usage) but also in monetised terms. Impact Institute also developed the Impact Weighted Account Framework (IWAF), the method that allows for these calculations. This feature allows businesses to integrate impact metrics into financial reporting, making it easier to compare environmental and social impacts alongside traditional financial figures.
Anne explains the integration of impact metrics into financial reporting is crucial for companies aiming to align their operations with the principles of sustainable finance. It also allows them to communicate their sustainability performance in a language that resonates with their stakeholders.
Another important feature is that GID calculates direct and indirect impact (value chain impact) with input-output modelling.
“We look at the different steps in the value chain to get insights in the impact of the organisations activities and its stakeholders. Impact results are in turn available for upstream, downstream and direct operations. The CSRD asks for this too, it wants you to report on your own environmental and social impact, and of that of your stakeholders.”
About the Expert
Anne Mesguich is an expert in sustainable finance and data integration, currently Product Owner of the GID and working at the nexus of Impact Institutes’ Technology, Research and Consulting teams. With a background in finance and investments, Anne has dedicated her career to leveraging data for social and environmental impact. Originally from Paris, she moved to the Netherlands at 18 years old for her studies. She holds an undergraduate degree in international business and a master’s degree in finance from Erasmus University Rotterdam. At Impact Institute, Anne has played an important role in the development of the Global Impact Database (GID). Passionate about making a positive difference in the world, Anne’s work focuses on providing organisations with the data they need and helps them meet the requirements of key sustainability regulations.
Enhancing impact data in private markets
Impact Institute x Preqin
Impact Institute has joined forces with Preqin, the global leader in alternative assets data, tools, and insights, to equip investment professionals with cutting-edge asset-level impact data to unlock insights into the impact of investment portfolios within private capital markets.
The joint vision shared by Preqin and Impact Institute revolves around making sustainability data an integral part of the decision-making and investment workflows for alternative assets professionals, bridging the alternative markets information gap with industry-backed estimations and allowing better impact analysis through the lens of our Global Impact Database integrated within Preqin ESG Solutions.
Data for compliance with SFDR and CSRD
The GID offers more significant advantages for organisations navigating the complexities of CSRD and SFDR. Under the SFDR financial institutions are required to disclose the Principal Adverse Impacts (PAIs) of their investments. The GID provides proxy data packages for these impacts.
In the absence of primary data, these data packages have proven invaluable for clients such as Inconfin, a management investment firm: “All we had to do was to provide a list of country-sector combinations, corresponding to our portfolio. Impact Institute provided the GHG data for scopes 1, 2 and 3 for each of the combinations.” Other users are for example the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), Triodos Bank, and ResponsAbility.
For CSRD, the GID can support the Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) —one of the first and most important steps in complying with the directive. By mapping GID data to European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) topics, GID helps organisations identify which impacts are most material in their sector, thereby scoping their assessments more effectively. “GID is already covering 60-70% of the ESRS topics”, Anne explains. ABN AMRO, one of the largest banks in the Netherlands, is already using the GID for its DMA.
Moreover, the GID’s capacity for gap filling—initially utilised for SFDR—is ready to extend to CSRD. This functionality allows companies to fill in data gaps, particularly in value chains where data may be opaque or incomplete. As regulations evolve and the demand for transparency grows, the ability to bridge these gaps will become increasingly critical. “We basically create data packages that are relevant for different regulations, like the PAI’s for SFDR.”
Our goal is that all these features of our GID will help companies with data for compliance with SFDR and CSRD. You could say GID is an all-encompassing ESG database.
Challenges and ambitions: navigating data complexity
While the GID is a robust and trustworthy database, the process of selecting and validating data sources is not without challenges. Different data sources may yield varying results, particularly in less standardised areas such as water use or social impacts. The task of integrating these diverse datasets into GID requires careful consideration of the validity of sources, the comparability of data, and the relevance to the specific impacts being measured.
Anne: “A challenging task is always to find and decide which data source to include and why do we think this is better than the other? There is a solid internal process in place with checks and balances and we document every decision we make very well. We also developed a thorough validation checklist that guides these decisions.”
Despite these challenges, the ambition behind the GID remains clear: to provide a comprehensive and reliable database that empowers organisations to make informed decisions about their sustainability practices. “In an ideal future, companies increasingly collect and report their own primary data, relying less on proxy data – until then, the GID serves as an essential bridge”, says Anne.
Conclusion: the GID as a strategic asset in the sustainability transition
As businesses across sectors face challenges with data demands for sustainability regulations, a tool like the GID is essential. By offering a combination of global and sectoral coverage, impact quantification, and the ability to fill data gaps, GID provides the insights necessary for organisations to not only comply with regulations like CSRD and SFDR but to lead the way in sustainable business practices. The journey towards full transparency and sustainability is ongoing, and with the GID, organisations are better equipped to navigate the complexities and drive positive change.
If you would like to start working with GID, you can find the GID demo link here. Want to learn or get support in your CSRD journey? Try our free CSRD modules, start a course or see our CSRD Hub.
