Evolution of ESG Reporting in Brazil: Lessons from “Reporting Matters 2025” for Companies

Mar 3
5 min read

The new 2025 edition of the Reporting Matters Brasil study has just been published, providing a fascinating deep dive into the maturity of corporate reporting in the country.

I have long been highlighting in articles, discussions, and analyses the "wave of maturity" regarding ESG regulation and corporate sustainability. Severe economic, technological, geopolitical, and climatic scenarios have consolidated the urgency with which companies and economic actors must address business risks and impacts.

The message is clear: ESG and sustainability strategies are pillars of survival across all sectors. Resisting this necessity creates (and exacerbates) systemic risks within economic activities.

The "State of Affairs" of ESG Reporting in Brazil

The new 2025 edition of the Reporting Matters Brasil study was released today (03/03), offering an insightful overview of corporate reporting maturity in Brazil.

Conducted by the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS), based on the WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development) methodology and with technical support from Grupo Report, the study aims to provide a structured view of how companies communicate their ESG information in Brazil.

The Methodology Behind the Data

To reach these conclusions, the 2025 edition analyzed 82 corporate reports. The evaluation was based on 16 criteria and 76 sub-criteria, organized into four major dimensions: Principles, Content, Effectiveness, and SDGs.

Principles: The communication fundamentals of ESG reporting structures.
Content: How material topics are actually managed and disclosed.
Effectiveness: The report's ability to respond to the needs of its audiences.
SDGs: Integration with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

A major differentiator this year was the hybrid approach: the process combined the critical review of 11 specialized consultants (who dedicated 350 hours to analyzing nearly 10,000 pages) with the use of Artificial Intelligence. AI was instrumental in verifying report completeness, reducing omissions, and ensuring rigorous consistency in final scores.

What has changed from the 1st edition in 2023 to the current 2025 edition?

The comparative analysis of the three editions (2023, 2024, and 2025) reveals an accelerated maturation of the Brazilian market regarding the management of ESG and sustainability reports:

Average scores soared: The overall performance average jumped from 6.7 (in 2023) to 7.8 (in 2024), reaching the 8.3 mark in 2025.
Double Materiality has become the norm: In 2023, only 40% of companies adopted this approach. That figure rose to 54% in 2024 and dominated the market in the current edition at 75%.
Regulatory convergence: The drive to align sustainability with financial performance caused the simultaneous integration of the GRI + SASB + TCFD frameworks to take an exponential leap, moving from a modest 4% in 2023 to 19% in 2024, reaching 26% in 2025.
Fewer unmapped reports: The share of publications that underwent no external verification has progressively dropped: it was 26% in 2023, fell to 23% in 2024, and now represents only 16% in 2025.
Climate "Reality Check": The more rigorous goal of "reducing and neutralizing residual emissions" underwent a sharp correction. In 2023, 46% of companies declared this commitment. This number plummeted to 15% in 2024 and remained at 16% in 2025, reflecting technical measurement complexities and increased market demand for practical plans rather than merely declarative promises.

The Horizon of Double Materiality and Corporate Governance

This significant advancement in ESG double materiality (which evaluates both the company's impact on the world and the world's financial impact on the company) is no coincidence. It reflects a strong regulatory acceleration driven by European standards (ESRS), IFRS S1 and S2 standards, and the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission) mandate to adopt ISSB standards in Brazil by 2026.

As a direct reflection of this financial requirement, Corporate Governance is evolving: there is clear progress in the (necessary) involvement of the Board of Directors and the integration of sustainability into executive variable compensation (bonuses), aligning business strategy with socio-environmental results. According to the report, today's leading companies have specific sustainability committees and well-defined reporting lines.

Globally, a report published at the end of 2025 by the OECD corroborated this scenario: 66% of companies worldwide (by market capitalization) utilize a board-level committee to oversee ESG sustainability risks; 70% of boards are overseeing climate issues through internal committees.

It is worth noting a complex challenge still facing companies: the integration between impact materiality and financial materiality. The difficult mission of integrating risks, opportunities, and strategic prioritization within organizations remains.

Despite the maturation of internal processes, the 2025 report notes that it is still common to see a lack of explicit prioritization criteria and the absence of a structured connection with Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). In advanced reports, alignment was observed between materiality assessments and ERM, with integration between financial and impact topics—a trend expected to grow in the coming years.

The 15 Most Addressed Material Themes

The study revealed the strategic priorities within the materiality matrices of Brazilian companies. If your company operates on these fronts, you are on the right track:

Ethics, integrity, and compliance: Remains at the top of concerns, present in 78% of reports;
Product responsibility: Focus on consumer trust, safety, and experience (78%);
Climate change: Grew to 77%, consolidating as an urgent cross-cutting concern;
Employee attraction, retention, and development: Focus on valuing people (73%);
Diversity, equity, and inclusion: A consolidated theme in human capital strategies (70%);
Occupational health, well-being, and safety: Focus on safe working conditions (64%);
Supplier and supply chain management: Reflecting pressure for shared responsibility (64%);
Innovation and clean technologies: Essential for eco-efficiency and new developments (62%);
Community engagement and local development: Showed notable progress in corporate prioritization, reaching 61%;
Human Rights: A fundamental pillar of the corporate social agenda (60%);
Waste management and circular economy: Efforts in reverse logistics and clean production (57%);
Energy and energy transition: Search for efficiency and renewable sources (53%);
Water and water resources management: Essential care regarding effluents and scarcity (51%);
Biodiversity and ecosystems: Environmental theme with systemic importance (42%);
Cybersecurity and data protection: A new theme that has gained momentum with the digitalization of operations (39%).

Outlook for the Coming Years

The market—as well as regulators and other strategic stakeholders—will no longer prioritize promotional narratives. The requirement now is for verifiable data, robust governance, and sustainability linked to cash flow. Consequently, corporate sustainability reports are becoming decisive tools for improving corporate governance, risk management, and the generation of secure, resilient value across various sectors.

It is important to emphasize that this maturation has a set deadline. Per the CVM’s determination, the adoption of ISSB standards (IFRS S1 and S2) will be mandatory. The first compulsory reports will be released as early as 2027 (base year 2026). The window for adaptation is closing; the time to structure internal controls and double materiality is now.

And your company—does it already treat sustainability as the infrastructure of the future and a strategic mechanism of corporate governance?

*Access the full text of the newly released report here: https://cebds.org/reporting-matters-2025/

[Automatically translated]

Originally published on LinkedIn.

Author: Bruno Teixeira Peixoto