Circular Economy Reporting and Data Management

Name: SDG Mapper
Uploaded: 2025-10-06T00:00:00+02:00
Duration: 1 min 57 s
Channel: Generation Impact Global
Description: Utilizza lo strumento SDG Mapper di Generation Impact Global per analizzare i documenti e allinearli agli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile delle Nazioni Unite. Carica i documenti, effettua la mappatura e scarica i risultati per migliorare il processo decisionale sostenibile

Turn resource use, waste and material circularity into structured, audit-ready data, mapped automatically to ESRS E5, the EU Taxonomy and GRI.

The shift from linear to circular business models is no longer just a sustainability ambition. Under CSRD, the EU Taxonomy and a growing list of national regulations, resource use, waste and material circularity are now reportable data points with defined disclosure requirements attached. Generation Impact Global helps you collect this data once, structure it properly, and reuse it across every framework that asks for it, from ESRS E5 to GRI 301 and 306, without duplicating the work across teams or spreadsheets.

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6.9%

Share of materials entering the global economy that come from reused or recycled sources, rather than newly extracted ones

€25.4 trillion

Estimated value lost every year to linear “take, make, waste” practices, close to a third of global GDP

Growth in global resource extraction since 1970, now linked to over half of all greenhouse gas emissions

€10 trillion

Value lost annually to end-of-life waste alone, the single largest of the five loss pathways identified

Why circular economy data has become a compliance requirement

For years, circularity sat mostly inside sustainability strategy documents: ambitions to reduce waste, recycle more, and design products that last longer. That’s changed. Resource use and circular economy is now one of the environmental standards under the CSRD (ESRS E5), and one of six environmental objectives under the EU Taxonomy. Investors, regulators and increasingly customers expect to see this backed by real data, not narrative alone. At the same time, the economics are becoming harder to ignore. Global circularity has been falling rather than rising, and the value locked up in linear resource use now runs into the tens of trillions each year. For resource-intensive sectors in particular, that combination of regulatory pressure and genuine financial upside is what’s moving circular economy data from a nice-to-have to a standard reporting line.

Where circular economy fits into your reporting obligations

Circular economy data typically needs to serve at least three frameworks at once. Select one to see what it covers and what it asks for.

ESRS E5 (CSRD)

Resource inflows, resource outflows tied to your products and services, and waste.

Applies to you if

Your double materiality assessment identifies resource use, circular economy or waste as material, which is the case for most manufacturing, industrial, retail and consumer goods businesses.

Typical data points

Material inflows by type and origin
Resource outflows linked to products and services
Waste generated and diverted, by category

Tassonomia dell'UE

Circular economy is one of six environmental objectives an economic activity can substantially contribute to.

Applies to you if

Any of your activities are assessed against the circular economy objective.

Typical data points

Resource efficiency
Waste prevention
Recyclability against the relevant technical screening criteria

GRI 301 & 306

Materials (GRI 301) and waste (GRI 306) as dedicated standards, for organisations reporting with reference to GRI.

Applies to you if

You report with reference to GRI, alongside or ahead of CSRD.

Typical data points

Materials used, by weight or volume
Recycled input materials
Waste by category and disposal route, with a good deal of overlap with ESRS E5

Handled separately, this becomes three data collection exercises for largely the same underlying figures. Handled well, it’s one.

From raw data to audit-ready disclosure

Raccogli

Pull material, waste and product data from your teams, systems and suppliers through structured forms and integrations.

Structure

Data is standardised against a single taxonomy, so the same figure works whether it is destined for ESRS E5, GRI or the EU Taxonomy.

Map

Structured data maps automatically to each framework’s specific line items and disclosure requirements.

Report and evidence

Generate framework-ready output with a full evidence trail back to source, ready for assurance.

How the platform supports circular economy reporting

CSRD was heading toward a requirement to digitally tag sustainability statements in XBRL, the same machine-readable standard already used for financial statements, so regulators and investors could analyse the data automatically rather than reading it. That requirement was suspended under the Omnibus I amendments in March 2026, pending updated technical rules, so it isn’t mandatory right now. It’s still expected to return once those rules catch up. Structuring your data properly now, rather than treating each report as a one-off document, means you’re ready whenever tagging resumes, rather than facing a scramble to retrofit years of reports.

Material and resource flow tracking

Record inflows and outflows by material type, origin and destination, at the level of detail ESRS E5 and GRI 301 expect.

Waste and recycling data

Track waste generated, diverted and disposed of, by category, hazard classification and disposal route, aligned to GRI 306.

Product circularity indicators

Capture recycled content share, product lifetime, reparability and other design-for-circularity metrics relevant to your sector.

Cross-framework mapping

Enter data once and have it map automatically to ESRS E5, GRI 301/306 and the relevant EU Taxonomy criteria, so nothing needs re-entering per framework.

Supplier and value chain data collection

Gather circularity data from suppliers, subsidiaries or portfolio companies through structured, trackable questionnaires.

Audit-ready evidence trail

Every figure is traceable back to its source, supporting the assurance requirements that come with CSRD reporting.

Built for resource-intensive and regulated sectors

Built for your sector

Manufacturing and industrials

Multi-site, material-heavy operations generate resource and waste data across complex production lines.

Track inflows and outflows per site and production line
Classify waste by hazard category across facilities
Aggregate data into a single ESRS E5 and GRI 301/306 view

Retail and consumer goods

Packaging, take-back schemes and end-of-life data need to be tracked across product ranges, not just at company level.

Capture recycled content share by product line
Track take-back and return volumes
Map packaging data to EU Taxonomy recyclability criteria

Financial institutions and portfolios

Taxonomy alignment and PAI reporting depend on circularity data collected from investee companies, not just your own operations.

Run structured circularity questionnaires across portfolio companies
Track Taxonomy Objective 4 (circular economy) alignment
Aggregate PAI indicators across holdings

SMEs and mid-market companies

A right-sized data set for lean teams without a dedicated sustainability function.

Start with the material and waste data points your assessment actually requires
Avoid duplicate data entry across frameworks
Scale the data set up as reporting obligations grow

Bring your circular economy data into one place

See how material flows, waste and product circularity data can be collected once and reported everywhere it’s needed.

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Domande frequenti

What is circular economy reporting?

Circular economy reporting covers the data and disclosures a company produces about how it manages resources across their full lifecycle: what materials come in, what happens to products and materials at end of life, how much waste is generated, and how much is reused, recycled or recovered. Under CSRD this sits within ESRS E5, and under the EU Taxonomy it’s assessed against the circular economy environmental objective.

Is circular economy disclosure mandatory?

For companies in scope of the CSRD, ESRS E5 becomes mandatory once your double materiality assessment identifies resource use, circular economy or waste as a material topic, which is the case for most manufacturing, industrial, retail and consumer goods businesses. Financial institutions and asset managers may also need to report Taxonomy alignment against the circular economy objective for relevant portfolio activities.

How does circular economy reporting relate to the EU Taxonomy?

The EU Taxonomy sets circular economy as one of six environmental objectives an economic activity can substantially contribute to. If your activities are assessed against this objective, you’ll need supporting data on resource efficiency, waste prevention, recyclability and other technical screening criteria, much of which overlaps with what ESRS E5 requires.

What data do we need to start reporting?

At minimum, most companies need material inflow data by type and origin, waste data by category and disposal route, and any product-level circularity metrics relevant to their sector, such as recycled content share or product lifetime. The exact data set depends on your materiality assessment and which frameworks you’re reporting against.

Can circular economy data be reused across multiple frameworks?

Yes. The platform lets you collect resource, waste and material data once and map it automatically to ESRS E5, GRI 301 and 306, and the relevant EU Taxonomy criteria, so your team isn’t re-entering the same figures for each disclosure.

Do we need a double materiality assessment before reporting on circular economy topics?

Under CSRD, yes. Whether resource use and circular economy is reportable for you depends on the outcome of that assessment. If you haven’t completed one yet, our double materiality assessment solution can help determine which ESRS topics, including E5, apply to your business.