Year-End Action Plan for Getting Ahead of CSRD Compliance in the Built Environment

Blogs 25 aug 2025

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is already in force across the European Union. For companies covered by the former Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), the first CSRD reports, covering financial year 2024 are due in 2025. For all other large companies, the first reporting cycle will cover financial year 2025, with reports due in 2026.

That means the final months of 2025 are critical. Companies that put systems and processes in place now will enter 2026 with structured data ready for disclosure, instead of scrambling to catch up when deadlines arrive.

CSRD applies to companies that meet at least two of the following three thresholds: more than 250 employees, €50 million in net turnover, or €25 million in total assets (European Parliament, 2022). The directive affects over 50,000 companies, including a substantial share of the real estate, infrastructure, and construction sectors.

For developers, asset managers, and contractors, CSRD is both a challenge and an opportunity: the challenge of reporting with greater precision, and the opportunity to embed transparency and performance-led decision-making into business operations.

What must be reported

Under CSRD, companies must align their disclosures with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). These cover sustainability risks, impacts, and governance. Key environmental topics include:

Scope 1–3 greenhouse gas emissions

Energy and water use

Pollution

Circularity and resource use

Reporting also requires a double materiality assessment, identifying both how a business impacts the environment and how environmental risks affect the business.

For the built environment, embodied carbon, material sourcing, and end-of-life potential are especially relevant. Capturing this data demands structured, verifiable documentation—something traditional spreadsheets or handovers can’t deliver at scale.

Streamlining sustainability reporting with Madaster

Madaster helps built environment professionals prepare for CSRD requirements by enabling the creation of digital material passports. These passports capture attributes such as origin, composition, circularity potential, and environmental impact.

The structured data generated on the platform supports alignment with ESRS topics such as E1 (Climate Change) and E5 (Resource Use and Circular Economy). Madaster provides asset owners with the numbers and insights they need to populate ESRS templates, track carbon performance, quantify circularity, and generate audit-ready outputs from a single source of truth.

Embedding transparency into every project phase

Late carbon and resource assessments drive up costs and derail compliance.

Madaster integrates with BIM systems, EPDs and LCA tools so project teams can evaluate carbon intensity and material performance from the start. Material insights remain live throughout the lifecycle—from design and procurement to construction and operation. Teams can compare design variants, assess supplier contributions, and identify improvements in real time.

Early transparency supports CSRD reporting and strengthens ESG performance, creating a competitive edge with investors, insurers, tenants, and regulators.

Portfolio-wide oversight for large asset holders

For companies managing multiple properties, Madaster offers a portfolio-level view. Dashboards display indicators such as material intensity, circularity percentage, and embodied carbon per square metre (e.g., A1–A3 lifecycle phases).

Firms operating across the EU can tailor reporting by country to reflect local interpretations of CSRD, while maintaining a consistent methodology. The platform also directly supports the EU Taxonomy’s “Transition to a Circular Economy” criteria, through a dedicated dashboard on circularity and disassembly. This functionality builds on the Level(s) framework (indicators 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, and 2.4), which Madaster currently supports.

For example, a portfolio manager might use Madaster to identify buildings suitable for taxonomy-aligned renovation, simulate performance improvements, and report those changes with full traceability to the underlying data.

Reducing risk while creating value

CSRD reporting already influences access to financing, eligibility for public procurement, and tenant expectations. Projects that prioritize material and carbon transparency gain a competitive edge.

According to the PwC 2023 Global Investor Survey, over 70% of investors consider regulatory and technological shifts key to investment decisions.

Embedding digital material documentation enables companies to demonstrate proactive governance, reduce legal and reputational risks, and strengthen their standing in procurement and investment pipelines. It also supports cost efficiency: material reuse preserves value and reduces capital expenditure, which Madaster quantifies through residual value and detachability scores.

Building long-term reporting capacity

CSRD compliance is not a one-off task. It requires continuous data collection, stakeholder coordination, and scalable systems. Madaster provides a unified platform for material and environmental data, integrated across all project stages and teams.

Role-based access, API integrations, and audit-ready exports ensure that project leads, sustainability officers, and external verifiers can collaborate efficiently with complete data traceability.

3 steps to get started now

1. Map your reporting obligations
Confirm whether your company meets CSRD thresholds and identify which ESRS topics apply. Prioritize E1 (Climate Change) and E5 (Resource Use and Circular Economy), which are most relevant for construction and real estate.

View the full reporting standard outlined by EFRAG for ESRS E1 and E5.

2. Structure your material data
Move beyond spreadsheets. Implement a system that captures carbon impacts and circularity potential early in project planning, ensuring your data is consistent, verifiable, and auditable.

3. Build internal capacity
Assign reporting roles and responsibilities now. Use platforms like Madaster that offer role-based access, API connectivity, and audit-ready outputs, so reporting stays aligned with project progress.

Conclusion

CSRD introduces a new standard for accountability in the built environment. Companies that prepare now, before year-end, will begin 2026 with structured data, streamlined reporting, and a clear competitive edge.

Madaster equips built environment professionals with the tools, structure, and benchmarks they need to deliver disclosures that are accurate, meaningful, and future-ready.