How one of the World’s Largest Payments Companies Streamlined ESG Data and Reporting with Nossa Data

About the Company & Nossa Data

One of the world’s top three largest card payments companies is a global leader in digital payments, enabling commerce across millions of businesses, banks, and consumers worldwide. As sustainability became increasingly strategic to its long-term growth and stakeholder engagement, the company sought a scalable and reliable way to manage environmental, social, and governance data across multiple complex reporting frameworks.

European companies are subject to specific sustainability reporting regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which was shaped by the European Parliament. The CSRD introduced detailed requirements for sustainability information reporting across the EU, creating a common, standardized language for sustainability reporting. Companies subject to the CSRD must report according to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), developed by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG). The first companies subject to the CSRD must apply the new rules for the 2024 financial year, for reports published in 2025. The CSRD obliges companies to include a sustainability report in the annual report. The EU Taxonomy classifies economic activities and defines which activities are environmentally sustainable. Information disclosed under the CSRD must be relevant, comparable, verifiable, easy-to-understand, and give a true and fair view. Companies must determine via a double materiality assessment what information, impacts, risks, and opportunities are to be disclosed. Before the CSRD, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards were frequently used by European companies for sustainability reporting.

Nossa Data is a female-founded ESG technology company that empowers corporations to streamline and enhance their ESG disclosures across global ESG and sustainability reporting standards, regulations and frameworks such as the CSRD, ISSB standards, CDP, Ecovadis, SASB, MSCI, WDI and more. Nossa Data centralises the collection of quantitative and qualitative data by combining smart automation with expert ESG guidance, Nossa Data helps organisations move from compliance to leadership in sustainability disclosure.

The Challenge

As a global payments provider operating across numerous jurisdictions and markets, the company faced several challenges in its ESG reporting journey.

Complex stakeholder expectations: Investors, regulators, and partners required disclosures across different methodologies and assessment models such as WDI, MSCI, and CSA. Each framework required overlapping but differently structured data, increasing reporting complexity. Listed companies and those in certain industries face heightened regulatory compliance requirements for ESG reporting, making it essential to address evolving standards and obligations.

Fragmented data landscape: Sustainability data was distributed across functions including HR, finance, risk, compliance, and operations. Much of the process relied on spreadsheets and manual consolidation, which created inefficiencies and risk of inconsistencies. Identifying key areas and ESG factors is challenging due to the distributed nature of data and the need to address environmental risks and social and environmental issues.

Need for performance insight: Beyond reporting, the company needed to understand how it was performing relative to peers and identify priority areas for improvement. Benchmarking across ratings and assessments was critical to informing leadership decisions. Materiality assessments are essential for determining which ESG factors and key areas should be prioritized in reporting.

Companies should conduct a double materiality assessment to determine what information, impacts, risks, and opportunities to disclose.

The Solution

To address these challenges, the company implemented the Nossa Data platform to centralise ESG data management and streamline reporting across multiple frameworks. The platform allows companies to manage user and client accounts to support ESG frameworks and custom reporting, ensuring seamless integration and organization of ESG initiatives. Nossa Data improves audit readiness by ensuring all ESG data is validated, traceable, and compliant, supported by a robust audit trail. ESG data management solutions like Nossa Data help companies reduce manual reporting effort and improve audit readiness, while enabling the generation of reports for various ESG standards using integrated data management platforms. Nossa Data enables companies to collect, manage, and validate ESG information through structured workflows, and integrates seamlessly with major ERP, HRIS, and carbon accounting platforms to create reliable data flows. The platform delivers a robust audit trail, ensuring ESG data remains accurate and compliant.

Nossa Data's platform supports risk management and provides research-backed recommendations for ESG reporting. It enables companies to identify opportunities arising from ESG initiatives and maintain a focus on key reporting areas. Rating agencies use data from such platforms to assess ESG performance, and task forces established by regulatory bodies may use this data for compliance and enforcement. Research supports the effectiveness of integrated ESG data management solutions in enhancing transparency, compliance, and performance.

Centralised ESG Data Collection

Teams across the organisation were able to input, review, and validate sustainability data within a structured workflow. Nossa Data integrates with HR systems to automate the collection of HR data for ESG reporting, ensuring accuracy and up-to-date information. Effective ESG data collection also includes tracking human capital metrics, which are essential for demonstrating social responsibility and organizational development. Nossa Data integrates seamlessly with major ERP, HRIS, and carbon accounting platforms to create reliable data flows. This significantly reduced reliance on manual spreadsheets and improved version control.

Standardised Multi-Framework Reporting

Using Nossa Data’s multi-framework architecture, the company mapped a single set of core ESG data points to:

• WDI for workforce-related disclosures
• MSCI for investor-focused ESG ratings and risk analysis
• CSA for detailed benchmarking and performance assessment

The platform enables the company to align its ESG initiatives and ESG topics across multiple frameworks, supporting comprehensive sustainability reporting. Companies can generate reports for various ESG standards using integrated data management platforms.

This approach reduced duplication of effort and ensured alignment across frameworks from one source of truth.

Improved Data Governance and Auditability

Built-in validation rules and clear ownership workflows strengthened data accuracy and traceability. The platform enhances audit readiness by ensuring ESG data is validated and traceable for external audits. Robust governance protocols support regulatory compliance and board oversight of ESG data, helping companies meet evolving UK and EU standards. Companies should prepare for assurance by locking evidence and tracking version history within their ESG reporting processes. The company was better positioned to support internal governance requirements and external assurance processes.

End-to-End Reporting and Automation

The adoption of comprehensive end-to-end reporting and automation solutions is fundamentally transforming how organisations approach ESG reporting, particularly in alignment with emerging global standards such as IFRS S1 and S2, CSRD, and TCFD requirements. Through the strategic implementation of specialised digital platforms—designed to integrate seamlessly with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems—organisations can systematically automate the collection, validation, and integration of ESG data across multiple business units, thereby significantly reducing manual intervention whilst simultaneously minimising the inherent risk of data inconsistencies and reporting errors that could compromise stakeholder confidence. This sophisticated automation approach streamlines the entire reporting lifecycle, enabling companies to systematically track progress against science-based sustainability targets (including Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions), generate audit-ready disclosures that meet regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions, and seamlessly integrate climate-related and broader ESG metrics into consolidated financial statements and comprehensive annual sustainability reports. Such a holistic, technology-enabled approach not only substantially enhances transparency, data integrity, and comparability across reporting periods but also drives down operational costs associated with manual data management processes whilst simultaneously freeing up valuable human resources for strategic sustainability initiatives, stakeholder engagement, and forward-looking risk assessment activities. With comprehensive end-to-end automation capabilities—encompassing data governance, materiality assessment, and scenario analysis—companies can efficiently manage their expanding ESG regulatory obligations, respond promptly and accurately to increasingly sophisticated stakeholder inquiries and due diligence requests, and establish robust frameworks for continuous improvement of their sustainability performance metrics and disclosure quality.

Connecting Teams and Stakeholders

Effective ESG disclosure implementation under emerging regulatory frameworks requires robust cross-departmental coordination protocols and systematic stakeholder engagement mechanisms aligned with international standards such as IFRS S1 and S2. Digital reporting platforms enable seamless data integration and regulatory compliance workflows across organizational functions, ensuring that all entities involved in the sustainability disclosure process maintain alignment with evolving ISSB requirements and jurisdictional mandates. By establishing coordinated reporting structures—spanning sustainability officers, financial reporting teams, human resources functions, and governance departments—organizations can leverage collective technical expertise to address material ESG topics and drive systematic disclosure enhancements consistent with global best practices. Regular stakeholder consultation processes, transparent feedback mechanisms, and decision-useful reporting frameworks foster investor confidence and demonstrate genuine commitment to regulatory compliance and sustainability performance targets. Through integrated cross-functional collaboration and resource allocation, entities can enhance their ESG disclosure quality, satisfy evolving stakeholder expectations under international sustainability standards, and achieve sustained competitive advantage in an increasingly regulated disclosure environment.

The Impact

By partnering with Nossa Data, the company achieved tangible improvements in efficiency, transparency, and strategic alignment.

Faster and more reliable reporting: Reporting cycles became more efficient, with reduced manual aggregation and improved confidence in data quality.

Greater consistency across frameworks: WDI, MSCI, and CSA reporting were aligned through a single system, ensuring consistency across submissions and communications.

Stronger decision-making capability: Executive leadership gained clearer visibility into sustainability performance and risk areas, supporting more proactive ESG strategy development.

By addressing social and environmental issues, the company was able to identify opportunities arising from new EU legislation and stakeholder expectations, further enhancing transparency and compliance. Effective ESG social practices improved employee satisfaction and contributed to long-term organizational resilience. Surveys of ultimate beneficiaries show high levels of support for considering social and environmental issues alongside long-run, risk-adjusted returns.

Summary

As one of the largest global payments networks, the company required more than compliance-driven reporting. It needed a robust and scalable ESG data infrastructure that could support complex frameworks and evolving stakeholder expectations.

Investment decisions are predominantly based on the potential for financial returns for a given level of risk, but many other criteria, including ESG factors, also influence these decisions. Investing with ESG considerations is sometimes referred to as responsible investing or impact investing. Research shows that intangible assets comprise an increasing percentage of future enterprise value. The relationship between ESG performance and corporate valuation may be non-linear, exhibiting polynomial characteristics such as inverted U-shaped patterns. Numerous reports have provided research supporting the argument that addressing ESG issues will protect and enhance portfolio returns. The evidence toward a relationship between consideration for ESG issues and financial performance is becoming greater.

By integrating WDI, MSCI, and CSA reporting within Nossa Data, the organisation centralised governance, streamlined processes, and strengthened its ability to benchmark and act on sustainability performance. The result was more efficient reporting and clearer strategic insight across the enterprise.