From bedtime tales to balance sheets: keeping storytelling alive in the CSRD era

I come from a long line of storytellers.

My great-grandma, Clara, could spin a yarn or ten about life in her Derbyshire village before electricity.

My grandma, Dorothy, made up an entire series of fictional stories that had us eager for bedtime.

And, not to be outdone, my dad now has a repertoire of 'sleepy stories' loosely based on true events that he tells his grandchildren.

All that to say, I love storytelling. It's in my bones. And I believe in its power to inspire, engage, and drive change.

But in the world of sustainability reporting, we might be facing a plot twist.

Enter the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) – the new protagonist (or antagonist?) in our sustainability narrative.

While it promises standardization and transparency, it will also have a significant impact on sustainability reports and the way that they are used to engage with stakeholders like customers and employees.

Don't get me wrong, data is crucial. But as we dive headfirst into this sea of metrics and KPIs, I’m starting to worry that we might be at risk of drowning the very stories that make sustainability relatable in the first place.

Imagine a world where sustainability reports read like technical manuals. Where creativity is stifled by rigid frameworks. Where compliance trumps communication.

I'm worried that this is where we are heading.

So, this week, I’ve been thinking: How do we maintain the art of storytelling in this brave new world of standardized reporting? How do we ensure our reports don't just tick boxes but also touch hearts?

Because at the end of the day, numbers may speak to the mind, but stories speak to the soul.

And in the realm of sustainability, we need both.

[Picture: Dorothy and her granddaughters ca. 1983. I'm the one in the red. And, yes, we all have the same bowl haircut. Sigh.]