Ever since consumers began to worry about climate change or rising inequality, some corporations have started to talk about their 'social responsibility' or how they compensate their carbon emissions through sponsoring tree-planting projects. This has been a largely unregulated free-for-all where greenwashing and exaggerated sustainability claims are rife.

The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) promises to change all that by requiring large and/or listed companies to publish comprehensive, standardised sustainability reports as of 2025. These must cover all relevant sustainability matters, from climate change to workers’ rights to corporate governance and must be audited, i.e., verified by independent professionals that specialise in verifying corporate financial and/or sustainability reports.