How Ignitis collects information for CSRD reporting using Nossa Data’s software

Ignitis Group is the largest public company in the Baltic States. Headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, it is a renewables-focused integrated utility with a purpose to create a 100% green and secure energy ecosystem for current and future generations. AB “Ignitis grupė” is the parent company of the Group, which is responsible for coordinating the activities and transparent management of the Group companies. It focuses on increasing the Group’s efficiency, making significant contributions to the energy security and green transition in the region as well as providing competitive services to customers while ensuring sustainable long-term value growth.

Ignitis leads in sustainability reporting through disclosing to the CDP, the UNGC, and disclosing against the EU Taxonomy and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The CSRD is an EU directive that entered into force in 2023, and applies to both EU companies and non-EU companies, including those with an EU branch, that have significant operations in the EU. The ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) are developed by EFRAG, an independent organisation bringing together various stakeholders, and are adopted by the European Commission as delegated acts after scrutiny by the European Parliament and Council.

Ignitis uses Nossa Data’s ESG reporting platform to leverage its sustainability reporting to the CSRD and the CDP amongst other sustainability frameworks and standards.

The challenge: Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) reporting at group level

Ignitis fell within the first wave of companies required to report under the EU’s CSRD. As a parent company, this meant producing consolidated, CSRD-compliant sustainability disclosures for the Group and reporting against the ESRS for the first time in its FY2024 Annual Report. Companies aligning to the ESRS, must disclose thousands of data points across material sustainability topics, structured around general principles (ESRS 1), general disclosures (ESRS 2), and the material topical standards. The ESRS cover four reporting areas: governance, strategy, impact, risk and opportunity management, and metrics and targets.

The ESRS were developed through a process involving exposure drafts and public consultation, ensuring that the final rules reflect broad stakeholder input. Sustainability disclosures must be included in the company’s annual management report, not as a separate document, and sustainability statements must be audited by third parties.

Following a double materiality assessment, Ignitis identified a set of material ESRS topics that needed to be reported consistently across the Group. The challenge was not only understanding what to report, but how to efficiently collect, manage and consolidate sustainability data from several Group companies across different teams and functions.

Key challenges included:

• Group-wide datapoint collection: Ignitis needed a centralised system to aggregate ESRS datapoints from its Group companies, using templates tailored to the Group’s specific material topics and reporting structure.
• Multiple contributors and stakeholders: Sustainability data was owned by different teams across the Group, each responsible for contributing the same information for entity-level reporting.
• Audit-ready reporting: As CSRD introduces mandatory assurance, Ignitis requires robust audit trails, documentation, and clear accountability for reported disclosure.

Manual processes and spreadsheets would not scale to meet these reporting requirements, particularly under the scrutiny and timelines of first-wave CSRD reporting.

The solution: Custom European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) templates in the platform

Nossa Data worked closely with Ignitis’ Sustainability team to design and implement bespoke ESRS reporting templates within the platform, tailored specifically to Ignitis’ group structure and material topics.

The solution enables consistency, collaboration, and assurance:

• Standardised ESRS templates: Custom templates were created to support ESRS disclosure requirements material to the Group. The templates included the ESRS requirements, ESRS applications requirements and links to additional resources such as the EFRAG Q&A publications on the ESRS. The templates included a gap analysis feature to track datapoint readiness within the entities. The templates were structured to be user-friendly for Group companies, ensuring consistent interpretation and reporting across the Group.
• Easy access to sustainability data and reporting templates: Users can easily access and interact with sustainability data and ESRS reporting templates through the Nossa Data platform, streamlining the process of meeting ESRS requirements. Auditable workflows: Nossa Data’s platform provides built-in audit trails, including change histories and evidence attachments, supporting Ignitis’ need for transparent and verifiable sustainability reporting across the Group companies.
• Structured review and sign-off: Different user roles and permissions enabled a clear hierarchy of contributors, reviewers, and approvers, allowing Ignitis to efficiently collaborate on datapoint collection, reviews, and formally sign off on completed disclosures.

This approach allowed Ignitis to centralise sustainability reporting while maintaining clear ownership at entity level.

"Implementing a centralised data system has significantly streamlined our operations and enhanced the accuracy of our reporting. Its user-friendly design enabled specialists across various fields within our Group to work efficiently and the system's robust data tracking and auditing functions have been crucial in achieving high-quality reporting results. Additionally, the team's dedicated support and responsiveness to our feedback have refined our workflow, ensuring alignment with our reporting objectives.“

~ Agnė Žemgulytė, Sustainability Reporting at Ignitis Group

The results: A scalable foundation for ongoing sustainability reporting under CSRD

With its ESRS datapoints now captured in Nossa Data, Ignitis has established a repeatable and future-proof reporting process.

• Year-on-year continuity: Previous years’ reported datapoints, change histories, and supporting evidence are retained in the platform, enabling efficient comparison and validation in future reporting cycles.
• Reusable templates: Material ESRS topics and templates can be carried forward into subsequent financial years, significantly reducing reporting effort and complexity.
• Improved confidence and readiness: Ignitis is now better positioned to meet evolving CSRD requirements, especially as ongoing regulatory changes, such as those introduced by the EU Omnibus package, continue to shape and streamline sustainability reporting obligations, ensuring robust, structured, and audit-ready disclosures.

By implementing bespoke ESRS templates and auditable workflows, Ignitis successfully navigated CSRD reporting and laid the groundwork for consistent, high-quality sustainability disclosures across the Group.