CSR indicators: which ones to follow in 2026?

Updated March 2026 - CSR indicators are not only used to produce a report. They are primarily used to manage the company. In practice, many leaders accumulate data without knowing which is truly useful, auditable and actionable.

See also: CSR audit, Digitalization of VSE/SMEs and Digitalization, artificial intelligence and partner solutions.

A good indicator should be:

• ▸relevant for your business model;
• ▸reliable and documentable;
• ▸comparable from one period to another;
• ▸useful for decision making for management.

In other words, a CSR KPI only has value if it links a risk, an action and a result. This is the spirit of ESRS and the logic of double materiality.

Environmental indicators

The most common indicators relate to emissions, energy, water, waste and circularity. Not all businesses need the same level of detail.

Social indicators

They make it possible to monitor the quality of the work collective:

• ▸workforce and turnover;
• ▸absenteeism;
• ▸frequency of accidents;
• ▸share of women in management;
• ▸training;
• ▸professional equality.

Governance indicators

They structure the credibility of the system:

• ▸composition of management bodies;
• ▸management of conflicts of interest;
• ▸warning devices;
• ▸risk mapping;
• ▸internal control and data quality.

Hayot Expertise advice: start with a reduced number of indicators, but ones that are reliable. Ten good KPIs used every month are better than a dashboard of fifty undocumented data.

The most robust method consists of 4 steps:

1. Identify the material issues

List the ESG topics that really influence your business, your customers, your suppliers, your financiers and your employees.

2. Map data sources

Before promising an indicator, it is necessary to check who produces the data, where it is located, how often it is updated and how it will be monitored.

3. Define the calculation formula

An indicator without a clear scope produces misleading comparisons. We must set in black and white the perimeter, the unit, the periodicity and the exclusions.

4. Associate an objective and a management comment

A CSR KPI must be interpreted. An increase in energy consumption does not have the same meaning if turnover or volumes have increased.

In SMEs, a simple and defensible base often works better:

• ▸energy/travel emissions;
• ▸electricity consumption;
• ▸turnover;
• ▸absenteeism;
• ▸work accidents;
• ▸training hours;
• ▸share of female managers;
• ▸compliance incidents.

In March 2026, the European framework remains evolving. The Ministry of the Economy published on February 4, 2026 an update recalling the impact of the Omnibus package on the scope of application and certain requirements. It is therefore necessary to distinguish between internal management, regulatory reporting and the evidence expected in the event of an external review.

CTA: Structuring your indicators and your CSR reporting

The best CSR indicators are those that the company can explain, reconcile and use to act. In 2026, real performance does not consist of publishing more figures, but of publishing the right ones, with solid governance and method.

Need to define a set of CSR indicators that is truly useful to management and defensible in the event of an audit? Our firm helps you frame the scope, calculations and evidence. Make an appointment with an expert

(Official sources: economie.gouv.fr on CSRD, economie.gouv.fr on CSR, delegated regulation (EU) 2023/2772 on ESRS, impact.gouv.fr)