BSR Insights+

The amended EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive is now finalized, and while its scope has narrowed, companies are still required to conduct risk-based human rights and environmental due diligence across their value chains. Explore key areas for strategic adjustment and practical steps companies can take now to prepare for implementation by 2029. 

As AI is mainstreamed across business operations, products, and services, questions are rising around its risks to people, environmental impacts, and the governance frameworks needed to ensure transparency and accountability. BSR shares four key steps companies can take to build the systems and processes necessary for delivering a responsible approach to AI.

Rapid shifts in regulatory, geopolitical, and market conditions have transformed the operating environment for sustainable business. Yet the evidence for sustainability’s role in long-term business success remains clear. Based on dialogue with leading companies, BSR and GlobeScan outline five core elements central to maximizing and communicating the business value of sustainability in a radically changed context.

BSR President and CEO Aron Cramer shares reflections from Davos 2025, including signals for the year ahead: growing AI scrutiny, the rise of “coalitions of the willing,” and embedding sustainability into business value.

Nature-based and technological carbon removals are essential elements of companies’ net-zero strategies, providing a vital complement to direct emissions reduction. In collaboration with Climeworks, BSR explains how carbon removal can help companies meet their net-zero goals and key steps for execution.

With continued global turbulence reshaping the economy, business, and society at the start of 2026, BSR CEO and President Aron Cramer poses six questions that are likely to define progress for sustainable business leaders in the year ahead.

BSR explores international standards governing company responsibilities to community members, the business value of community engagement, and practical tips for conducting it.

BSR shares key actions to ensure internal alignment ahead of stakeholder engagement: establishing an overarching vision, identifying internal ownership, shifting from ad hoc to ongoing engagement, and balancing transparency and legal risk.

BSR shares takeaways from the 2025 Tech Against Trafficking Summit, where participants discussed how innovative technology, increasingly driven by AI, can be a powerful enabler to fight modern slavery when responsibly and carefully designed and deployed. 

In the shift toward a net-zero economy, advancing a just transition is both a social and business imperative. BSR and We Mean Business outline 12 policy asks to guide business engagement on the just transition and drive investment in equitable transformation.

BSR shares key changes in the CSDDD based on the EU Omnibus, next steps in the legislative process, and actions companies can take to drive long-term value and resilience.

While stakeholder engagement is a legal imperative reinforced by regulations, its business value extends far beyond compliance. BSR shares how stakeholder engagement can help companies protect their ability to operate and contribute to broader community resilience and societal progress.

The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive will impose new due diligence requirements on large companies operating in the EU. BSR shares human rights risks most relevant to tech companies and outlines practical steps they can take now to prepare. 

This year’s Climate Week was the biggest in its 16-year history, with more than 1,000 events, a high level of government participation, and a noteworthy level of business engagement. BSR President and CEO Aron Cramer shares four takeaways from the event.

Proposed ESRS changes aim to streamline disclosure requirements by shifting toward principle-based, materiality-driven reporting. In this Insights+, BSR outlines what’s changing, why it matters, and how companies can maintain sustainability momentum amid ongoing shifts.

Amid converging systemic challenges and worsening climate impacts, it is crucial that companies take an integrated approach to climate action. BSR shares insights from its climate and nature integration working group on how businesses can align operational resilience with environmental stewardship and social well‑being.