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TL;DR:
- Fewer than half of Romanian companies are familiar with ESG requirements, but over 5,000 will need to comply with CSRD starting in 2025.
- CSRD demands structured reporting, double materiality assessment, and third-party audited disclosures covering environmental, social, and governance data.
- Challenges include low ESG literacy and data readiness, but proactive strategic management can enhance trust, market position, and operational insights.
Fewer than half of Romanian companies are familiar with ESG requirements, yet CSRD will touch over 5,000 businesses across the country starting with fiscal year 2025. That gap between where most companies stand today and where regulators expect them to be is significant. If you are a Quality, HSE, or Sustainability Manager trying to make sense of what this directive actually demands, you are in the right place. This guide breaks down who must comply, what the process looks like, how double materiality works in practice, and what Romanian-specific challenges you should plan for now rather than later.
Table of Contents
- Who must comply with CSRD in Romania?
- Core requirements: What does CSRD actually demand?
- Double materiality explained: How and why to do it
- CSRD in Romania: Local data challenges and opportunity
- A sustainability manager’s take: What most guidance misses about CSRD
- Get expert help with CSRD, ESG, and more
- Frequently asked questions
Key Takeaways
| Point | Details |
|---|---|
| CSRD applies broadly | Over 5,000 Romanian companies must now report on sustainability issues under CSRD rules. |
| Double materiality is essential | You must assess both your company’s impact on society and what ESG issues can affect your finances. |
| New reporting steps | You will need to integrate ESG data, undergo audits, and include findings in admin reports starting 2026. |
| Local challenges exist | Most firms are unfamiliar with ESG data and face supply chain pressures but can turn compliance into an advantage. |
Who must comply with CSRD in Romania?
Understanding the scope of CSRD is the first step. Romania transposed the directive through Ministry of Finance Order 85/2024, along with FSA Norm 4/2024 and NBR Order 1/2024, making it binding under national law. The impact of CSRD on Romanian businesses is broader than many managers initially expect.
A company qualifies as “large” for CSRD purposes if it meets at least two out of three of the following thresholds:
- More than 250 employees
- Annual turnover exceeding RON 50 million
- Total assets exceeding RON 25 million
As a result, approximately 5,300 Romanian companies fall within scope for the first reporting cycle. This is not a distant deadline. For fiscal year 2025, the first sustainability reports are due in 2026, meaning data collection and internal processes need to be in place now.
Here is a quick overview of who is affected and who is not:
| Category | CSRD status |
|---|---|
| Large companies meeting 2 of 3 thresholds | Required to report |
| Listed SMEs (above specific thresholds) | Required under specific provisions |
| Small unlisted companies below thresholds | Generally exempt |
| Subsidiaries of non-EU parents listed in EU | May be required to report |
Under CSRD thresholds, subsidiaries of large groups can sometimes use group-level reports to satisfy their individual obligations, but this depends on the parent company’s reporting timeline and structure. Do not assume exemption without checking your group structure carefully.
One detail that surprises many managers: supplier responsibilities under CSRD extend beyond direct reporting. Even if you are technically exempt, your large clients may request ESG data from you as part of their own Scope 3 and supply chain disclosures. Compliance pressure will come from the market as much as from regulators.
Core requirements: What does CSRD actually demand?
Once you confirm CSRD applies to your company, the next question is what you actually have to produce. The answer is more structured than a standalone sustainability report.
Reports are included in the annual administrative report and require a limited assurance audit from a certified auditor. This is a critical shift from voluntary reporting. Your ESG disclosures now carry legal weight and must be verifiable.
What must your report include?
- Environmental data: energy consumption, emissions (Scope 1, 2, and 3), waste, water
- Social data: workforce conditions, health and safety, diversity metrics
- Governance data: anti-corruption policies, board oversight, risk management
- Forward-looking targets and progress against them
- The results of your double materiality assessment (covered in the next section)
The reporting process, step by step:
- Conduct a double materiality assessment to determine which ESRS topics apply
- Collect data across environmental, social, and governance dimensions
- Map data to the applicable European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS)
- Integrate the sustainability statement into your annual administrative report
- Submit the report to a certified auditor for limited assurance
- File the complete report with Romanian authorities
Managing ESG supply chain compliance alongside internal reporting is one of the heaviest workloads in this process. Building supplier data pipelines early saves enormous time in steps two and three.
Pro Tip: Do not treat CSRD as a one-time project. Embed the data collection process into existing management systems, whether that is your ISO 14001 environmental management system, your ERP, or your HSE reporting tools. Companies that integrate early report far less stress at filing time.
Double materiality explained: How and why to do it
Double materiality is the analytical core of CSRD and, frankly, the step most companies underestimate. It determines which topics you are required to report on, so getting it wrong means either over-reporting irrelevant data or under-reporting material risks.
Double materiality requires assessing two distinct lenses simultaneously: impact materiality (how your company affects people and the planet) and financial materiality (how sustainability factors affect your company’s finances and performance).
| Dimension | Focus | Key questions | Teams involved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impact materiality | Outward effects on environment and society | What harms or benefits do we create? | HSE, Operations, Supply Chain |
| Financial materiality | Inward financial risks and opportunities | What ESG factors affect our revenues or costs? | Finance, Risk, Strategy |
Here is how to approach the assessment in practice:
- Map your stakeholders. Identify who is affected by your operations and who affects your financial performance, including employees, communities, investors, and suppliers.
- Identify IROs. For each sustainability topic, document the Impacts, Risks, and Opportunities (IROs) your company faces.
- Score each IRO. Assess severity, scale, likelihood, and financial magnitude. Use a consistent scoring method so your auditor can follow the logic.
- Align with ESRS topics. Match your material IROs to the relevant European Sustainability Reporting Standards to determine which disclosures are mandatory for your company.
- Document everything. The assessment must be auditable. Keep records of who participated, what data was used, and how decisions were made.
Pro Tip: Quality and HSE managers should push for cross-functional workshops during the IRO mapping phase. Scope 3 emissions and HSE data are almost always material but frequently missing from early drafts because they sit across multiple departments and suppliers.
“Double materiality is not a checkbox. It is the backbone of your entire CSRD report. If it is done superficially, every disclosure built on top of it is at risk.” — ESRS Implementation Guidance
For companies exploring how to account for avoided emissions in Scope 4 emissions consulting, the double materiality process is also the right moment to assess whether those metrics are genuinely material to stakeholders.
CSRD in Romania: Local data challenges and opportunity
Romanian companies face a specific set of challenges that generic CSRD guidance rarely addresses. Understanding them honestly is the starting point for building a realistic plan.
Only 40% of companies in Romania report familiarity with ESG concepts. That is a remarkable data point. It means the majority of companies entering CSRD scope are starting from near zero, with limited internal knowledge, incomplete data systems, and no established ESG reporting culture.
| Common barrier | Practical solution |
|---|---|
| No centralized ESG data system | Start with a manual data inventory; then migrate to dedicated tools |
| Low staff ESG literacy | Invest in targeted training for HSE, Finance, and Operations teams |
| Incomplete supply chain data | Prioritize top-tier suppliers first; use questionnaires and third-party platforms |
| No prior sustainability report | Use a gap analysis to identify what you have and what you still need |
| Auditor unfamiliarity with ESRS | Choose auditors with ESG assurance experience from the start |
But here is the opportunity that companies focused only on compliance risk often miss. Research also shows that strong ESG practices can enhance trust and market value for listed Romanian firms. The companies that treat CSRD as a strategic exercise, not just a reporting burden, are building genuine competitive advantages.
Leading companies are already using CSRD to:
- Strengthen relationships with international clients who request ESG scorecards
- Differentiate in procurement processes where ESG criteria are increasingly mandatory
- Improve internal risk management by making environmental and social exposures visible
- Attract talent and investment by demonstrating credible governance
The supply chain ESG challenges are real, but so is the upside. Managing your carbon footprint in Romania as part of CSRD is not just a regulatory exercise. It is a window into operational inefficiency and hidden cost.
“CSRD can feel like a burden if you approach it as paperwork. Approach it as a business diagnostic, and it becomes something entirely different.”
A sustainability manager’s take: What most guidance misses about CSRD
Most CSRD guides focus on the technical requirements. What they rarely say out loud is this: the hardest part is not the numbers, it is the internal coordination.
We have seen it repeatedly. A sustainability manager inherits the CSRD mandate, tries to gather data from finance, operations, HR, and procurement, and hits a wall because nobody has clear ownership of anything. The delegation trap is real. CSRD requires someone with authority and organizational trust to own the cross-functional mapping process, not just the final report.
The biggest myth we want to challenge is that CSRD is a reporting challenge. It is a cultural shift. Companies that treat it as a one-time documentation exercise will produce reports that satisfy nobody, least of all their auditors. Companies that use it to build internal accountability structures will find it becomes easier every year.
On greenwashing: use the ESRS standards as a shield. Only report what you can back with auditable, traceable numbers. Overclaiming is a much larger legal and reputational risk than under-disclosing with proper justification.
Finally, do not let the EU Omnibus proposals lull you into complacency. Supply chain data requests from clients and investors will intensify regardless of what happens with regulatory simplification. The expert ESG consulting support you build now will pay off in ways that go far beyond the compliance deadline.
Get expert help with CSRD, ESG, and more
CSRD compliance is manageable, but only if you start with an honest picture of where you stand today.
At ECONOS, we work with mid-size and large Romanian companies to close that gap through structured gap analyses, double materiality workshops, and audit-ready ESG reporting services. We also help you calculate your carbon footprint assessment across Scope 1, 2, and 3, so your environmental disclosures are grounded in real, defensible data. Our training-first model means your team builds the internal capacity to own the process, not just outsource it. If you are ready to take the first step, our team at ECONOS sustainability consulting is here to help you move from confusion to confident compliance.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my Romanian company falls under CSRD?
If your company meets at least two out of three thresholds, over 250 employees, over RON 50 million turnover, or over RON 25 million in assets, you are required to comply with CSRD.
What is a double materiality assessment?
It is a structured review that examines both how your company impacts the environment and society and how sustainability factors affect your finances, forming the basis for selecting which ESRS standards apply to you.
What are the penalties for not complying with CSRD?
Romanian authorities require annual audited disclosures, and failure to comply can result in regulatory fines and serious reputational damage with clients, investors, and supply chain partners.
What are the most common challenges with CSRD in Romania?
Most companies struggle with ESG data readiness and the complexity of collecting consistent, auditable information from across their supply chains and internal departments.