Adoption of the European sustainability reporting standards: an empirical analysis

This thesis examines the implementation of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) within high-impact European industries and evaluates how corporate disclosure practices have evolved in response to this new regulatory framework. The study focuses on twelve large firms from Germany, France, and Italy, drawn from sectors with significant environmental impact, including energy, cement, steel, chemicals, automotive, and industrial engineering. The research uses a scoring framework based on 11 ESRS criteria, applied to company sustainability and annual reports from 2022 (pre-ESRS) and 2024 (post-ESRS implementation). By analyzing disclosures on climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and materiality assessments, the study highlights both sectoral and cross-country differences in reporting quality. Illustrative extracts from company reports are used to validate the scoring and demonstrate how disclosure practices vary in depth and clarity. Findings show that while some firms (e.g., Enel, Veolia, BASF) demonstrate advanced and comprehensive disclosure practices, others (e.g., Saipem, Tenaris, thyssenkrupp) remain more compliance-oriented, with limited value-chain transparency. The results confirm that sectoral characteristics and national traditions continue to shape reporting practices, even under a harmonized framework such as ESRS. Although the thesis presents financial indicators (revenue, net income, market capitalization) to contextualize the companies, it does not claim a direct causal link between ESRS adoption and financial performance. Instead, it situates the findings within the broader academic literature, which shows mixed evidence on the financial implications of sustainability disclosure. The thesis contributes to the emerging ESRS research agenda by offering early empirical evidence, clarifying sector- and country-level dynamics, and providing insights for companies, investors, and policymakers seeking to improve the effectiveness of mandatory sustainability reporting.