Sustainability reporting has transformed from voluntary disclosure to a regulatory requirement. The European Union's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) mandates detailed sustainability disclosures. The SEC has introduced climate disclosure rules. Investors increasingly factor ESG performance into allocation decisions. For compliance teams, this creates an urgent operational challenge: how do you systematically collect, validate, and report sustainability data across complex organizations?
The reporting burden is substantial. A 2024 KPMG survey revealed that 96 percent of the world's largest 250 companies now report on ESG standards and practices. Government entities have increased ESG reporting guideline issuance by 74 percent over the past four years. For organizations without specialized ESG software, no-code platforms offer a practical path to systematic sustainability reporting.
The sustainability data challenge
ESG reporting requires collecting data from across the organization, including energy consumption from facilities, emissions from operations, diversity metrics from HR, governance documentation from legal, and supply chain assessments from procurement. This data lives in different systems, owned by different departments, and often tracked in inconsistent formats.
Traditional approaches rely on spreadsheets, email requests, and manual consolidation. The process is time-consuming, error-prone, and difficult to audit. As reporting requirements expand and timelines compress, manual approaches become unsustainable.
Building ESG workflows without code
Data collection workflows
No-code platforms enable compliance teams to build structured data collection processes. Rather than chasing data via email, automated workflows route data requests to responsible parties, provide standardized input forms, track completion status, and escalate overdue submissions. The process becomes systematic rather than ad hoc.
Validation and approval processes
Sustainability data requires validation before reporting. No-code workflows can route submitted data through appropriate reviewers, flag anomalies for investigation, and document approval chains. The audit trail demonstrates data governance for external assurance.
Progress tracking and monitoring
Many organizations set sustainability targets, including emissions reduction goals, diversity commitments, and supply chain sustainability standards. No-code dashboards can visualize progress against targets, alerting stakeholders when metrics deviate from expected trajectories.
Supplier and vendor assessments
Scope 3 emissions and supply chain sustainability require data from external parties. No-code platforms can manage vendor assessment workflows, distributing questionnaires, collecting responses, tracking completion, and flagging concerns for follow-up.
Regulatory compliance considerations
ESG reporting frameworks vary by jurisdiction and standard. CSRD, SASB, GRI, and TCFD each have specific disclosure requirements. No-code platforms provide flexibility to adapt data collection and reporting processes as requirements evolve, a significant advantage over rigid specialized software.
The audit readiness aspect deserves particular attention. External assurance of sustainability reports is increasingly common and sometimes required. No-code workflows that document data sources, validation steps, and approvals create the audit trail that assurance providers require.
Getting started with ESG automation
Map your data requirements. Identify what data you need, where it originates, who owns it, and when it is required. This mapping informs workflow design.
Standardize data formats. Inconsistent data formats create consolidation headaches. Define standard units, categories, and formats before building collection workflows.
Build for iteration. ESG requirements evolve rapidly. Design workflows that can be modified as standards change without rebuilding from scratch.
Plan for audit. Document data lineage, validation logic, and approval workflows. What seems clear during development becomes essential documentation during assurance review.
How Kissflow helps
Kissflow's no-code platform enables compliance and sustainability teams to build the data collection, validation, and reporting workflows that ESG requirements demand. With visual workflow builders, approval routing, and dashboard capabilities, Kissflow helps organizations systematize sustainability data management, transforming manual processes into auditable workflows that scale with expanding reporting requirements.
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