Manage ESG,do not just report it.
Sustainability data arises everywhere except in the sustainability team: energy in production, fuel in logistics, origin details in purchasing. It is usually brought together once a year in a spreadsheet – and then does not hold up in an external audit. fabular lets ESG figures arise in day-to-day operations and keeps them traceable down to the individual document.
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- ESRS and CSRD
- AI risk detection
- Supply chain control
- 100 %
- CSRD compliance
- AI
- risk detection
- Real time
- supply chain control
- 25+
- years of experience
Three problems in ESG management
Reports are produced by hand
ESG figures are brought together from different systems. The effort comes round again every year, under time pressure.
Reports from the data captured in the system, compliant with ESRS and CSRD.
The supply chain cannot be evidenced
Sustainability records for suppliers cannot be captured systematically. When an audit comes, the evidence is missing.
Supply chain control with assessments, captured automatically and ready for audit.
Quality assurance without a risk view
Audits and measures are carried out across the board instead of by risk profile. Resources go where little is to be expected.
Control by origin, product group and history of deviations.
This page is written for companies that have to evidence ESG figures and not just report them – fabular lets the figures arise where the work happens and keeps them traceable down to the individual document.
What is genuinely difficult in sustainability management
The structure of the report is rarely the problem. It becomes difficult where a figure has to be produced whose derivation an external auditor can also follow.
- A figure is only as good as its evidence: a value that cannot be traced back to the individual document will not hold up in an external audit.
- The data arises in different places: energy consumption in production, fuel in logistics, waste quantities in the warehouse, supplier details in purchasing – and it is usually brought together in a spreadsheet.
- A CO2 balance per product needs the quantity structure: without a recipe, the quantities used and the origin of the input products, every product-related statement stays an estimate at company level.
- Supply chain data ages quietly: self-declarations and certificates have a period of validity. Collect them once and a year later you have a dataset whose age nobody knows.
- Requirements overlap: CSRD, supply chain due diligence and the EUDR draw on the same master data, batches and supplier details, but are often handled as separate projects.
- The report is a reporting date, management is not: if you only see where you stand at the reporting date, you can no longer change anything in the reporting year.
Figures without an audit trail
Figures from a spreadsheet are produced quickly and are hard to defend in an audit conversation. What matters is whether the path from the value to the document is open.
Data in separate systems
As long as energy, logistics and purchasing data sit in separate systems, consolidation is a project of its own every year, with the same questions coming back.
Sustainability as an annual task
If capture only happens in the reporting season, the values that could still have moved something during the year are exactly the ones missing.
How fabular handles this
Measures & targets
- 1.A register of measures with owner and deadline.
- 2.Targets with a figure and a target value.
- 3.Progress comparable across sites.
- 4.Evidence at the activity instead of in folders.
Supply chain & risk
- 1.Supplier assessment with ESG criteria.
- 2.AI-supported prioritisation of risks.
- 3.Certificates with expiry monitoring.
- 4.Self-declarations through the portal.
The prioritisation says where to look – the decision is still made in-house.
Reporting
- 1.ESRS, CSRD, GRI and DNK from one dataset.
- 2.Figures traceable down to the individual document.
- 3.An audit trail for the external audit.
- 4.Interim positions available at any time.
- 5.Extra views for individual stakeholders arrive as Vibecoding through fabAI, on the same audited dataset rather than a new spreadsheet.
From the data point to the audited report
- Step 01
Define materiality and figures
at the start of the project
First it is determined which topics are material for your company and which data points follow from that. Only then is it worth setting up capture, otherwise effort goes into figures that nobody needs in the end.
- Step 02
Capture data where it arises
continuously, in daily business
Consumption, quantity and transport data arises in the operational activities: production order, stock movement, route, incoming invoice. Sustainability data therefore becomes a by-product of the process instead of an additional survey.
- Step 03
Assess the supply chain
purchasing and quality assurance
Suppliers are assessed against ESG criteria, and self-declarations and certificates come in through the portal and are kept with their validity. The prioritisation shows which suppliers need a closer look; the decision is still made in-house.
- Step 04
Manage measures
during the year
Targets with a figure and a target value, measures with an owner and a deadline. Progress is comparable across sites, so it becomes visible during the year where corrections are needed.
- Step 05
Report and external audit
at the reporting date
The report is produced from the same dataset the work was done in. Every figure remains traceable down to the individual document, so the audit can work along the audit trail instead of along a derivation put together after the fact.
ESG management with fabular
When does the CSRD become relevant for us?
Whether and from when you are subject to reporting depends on size, legal form and national implementation, and it is still moving. That classification is a legal question we do not answer. The operational task is unaffected by it: if you capture the data points in day-to-day operations anyway, you are prepared, instead of waiting for clarity and then starting under time pressure.
Can we report a CO2 balance per product?
Product-related values require a quantity structure: the recipe or bill of materials, the quantities used, the origin of the input products and the associated process and transport data. That data sits in the ERP if production, posting and delivery happen there. Which factors are applied and which methodology is used for the calculation belongs in the discussion with your specialist department and your auditor.
How ready for audit are the figures?
The decisive point is the audit trail. Every figure can be broken down to the individual document because it arises from transaction data and not from a downstream spreadsheet. For the external audit this means samples can be drawn in the system. A figure whose derivation only one person knows is the real risk in that situation.
We report to GRI or DNK today. Do we have to switch?
No. ESRS, CSRD, GRI and DNK are served from the same dataset. The frameworks differ in structure and level of detail but largely draw on the same figures. The effort lies in the capture logic set up once and not in the individual reporting format, which also keeps a switch or parallel reporting manageable.
What exactly does the AI do here?
fabAI prioritises and prepares. For the supply chain it proposes which suppliers or product groups need closer review, based on origin, product group and the history of deviations. It also helps in finding evidence and putting documents together. Assessment and decision stay with your specialists; the system supplies the order of work and the reason for it.
How does this relate to the EUDR and supply chain obligations?
All three draw on the same basis. The EUDR requires reference numbers on the goods, supply chain due diligence requires a risk view and evidence per supplier, and the CSRD requires figures with a derivation. What they have in common is that they build on master data, batches and supplier details. Once that basis is properly in the ERP, the next requirement is served with considerably less effort.
Companies that work with fab4minds
A selection from our customer base – businesses with comparable requirements for traceability, batch management and reporting obligations.
- SONNENTOR
- Donau Soja
- Taifun Tofu
- Certisys · Ecocert
Before you invest in reporting software
A defined consulting engagement with a fixed scope, a fixed price and a written result. Worthwhile even when no change of system follows from it.
Digitalisation consulting for sustainability data
We clarify which data points you actually need, where they arise in the business and what is missing for a figure to hold up in an external audit.
- Narrow down the material topics and the data points that follow from them
- Record the sources of energy, quantity and transport data in the business
- Review supplier data and certificate management for audit readiness
- An action plan with effort, effect and sequence
Let us talk about your reporting season
How many weeks does the ESG report cost you today? In the consulting engagement we go through your data sources and show what can be derived from transaction data. If the result does not help you, we refund the fee.