• A Review of Latest ESG Reporting Software Market Reports (2025-2030): Focus on Market Growth, Size, Trends, Forecast and Segments
June 14, 2025
A Review of Latest ESG Reporting Software Market Reports (2025-2030): Focus on Market Growth, Size, Trends, Forecast and Segments
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A Review of Latest ESG Reporting Software Market Reports (2025-2030): Focus on Market Growth, Size, Trends, Forecast and Segments

Introduction

Over the past five years Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) disclosure has moved from “nice-to-have” to a board-level imperative. The European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the IFRS Foundation’s new S-standards, and the anticipated US SEC climate rule are forcing issuers to capture auditable data at scale, while investors demand decision-grade, comparable metrics. This regulatory momentum has lit a fire under the specialist ESG reporting-software segment—tools that automate data intake across operations and supply chains, map the data to multiple taxonomies (SASB, GRI, CDP, CSRD, SEC, etc.) and generate machine-readable filings. To understand how quickly—and unevenly—this market is expanding, we compared the most recent forecasts (published in late 2024 and H1 2025) from seven leading market-research houses.

1. Market-size snapshots and headline CAGRs

Research firm Baseline year Market value (US$ bn) Forecast year Market value (US$ bn) CAGR %
MarketsandMarkets 2024 0.9 2029 2.1 17.0
Grand View Research 2023 0.94 2030 2.73 17.3
Verdantix 2023 1.3 2029 5.6 26.0
Research & Markets (Report 5847038) 2025 1.88 2030 3.87 15.6
Research & Markets (Disclosure-management cut) 2025 1.83 2030 3.32 12.7
Stratistics MRC 2024 0.91 2030 2.50 18.4
Market Research Future 2024 1.20 2032 4.87 18.0

The table shows a consensus that the segment will at least double by 2030, but the spread is wide (12.7 % to 26 % CAGR). Methodological differences explain much of the gap: Verdantix counts license, implementation and managed-service revenue, whereas MarketsandMarkets focuses on packaged-software licences; Research & Markets splits “disclosure management” from the broader ESG platform category, pulling its total lower.

2. Regional hot-spots

  • North America remains the largest spending region today, accounting for 41-46 % of 2023 revenue according to both Grand View and Market Research Future. grandviewresearch.commarketresearchfuture.com

  • Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing territory. MarketsandMarkets projects the highest CAGR for APAC through 2029 as supply-chain rules such as Japan’s mandatory TCFD reporting ripple through regional subsidiaries. marketsandmarkets.com

  • Europe benefits from the CSRD “compliance crunch”: more than 50,000 EU and non-EU companies must submit ESRS-aligned reports starting FY 2025, driving double-digit growth in cloud ESG tooling over the forecast period. grandviewresearch.com

3. Segment leaders inside the software stack

Solution type. Grand View finds environmental-management modules (carbon, energy, water) still command the largest licence share, but social-governance analytics are catching up as human-capital and supply-chain due-diligence laws tighten. grandviewresearch.com

Deployment model. Cloud delivery dominates: 72-78 % of new contracts in 2024 were SaaS, fuelled by the need for continuous data feeds and automatic taxonomy updates. grandviewresearch.com

Verticals. BFSI is the single biggest spender because banks must align Pillar 3 and EU Taxonomy disclosures; Fortune Business Insights highlights that mandatory Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation statements give the sector the highest share through 2032. fortunebusinessinsights.com

4. Technology and regulatory drivers

Regulatory certainty ⇢ budget certainty. MarketsandMarkets identifies “growing investor and stakeholder demand for transparency” plus a wave of converging global standards as the primary spend catalysts. marketsandmarkets.com Grand View singles out the CSRD as a “phase-change” moment that will accelerate software refresh cycles through 2027. grandviewresearch.com

AI & machine learning. Generative AI is already surfacing in product roadmaps. Fortune Business Insights describes Nasdaq Sustainable Lens—an AI assistant that benchmarks 9,000+ issuers across frameworks—while Grand View notes C3.ai’s tie-up with ESG Book to automate data capture. fortunebusinessinsights.comgrandviewresearch.com

IoT and real-time telemetry. MarketsandMarkets foresees deeper integration of ESG platforms with on-premise sensors, enabling live carbon accounting and Scope 3 estimation. marketsandmarkets.com

Enterprise-systems convergence. Verdantix stresses that buyers increasingly want one platform that consolidates EHS, carbon, and financial-risk reporting; integration capability with ERP/HCM stacks is therefore a differentiator. verdantix.com

5. Competitive landscape: key vendors to watch

The market is still fragmented—Verdantix tracks over 120 active vendors—but consolidation is accelerating as larger enterprise-software houses acquire specialists to close functionality gaps. Notable players include:

  • Workiva – de-facto SEC/EDGAR XBRL filing standard-bearer and pioneer in integrated financial plus ESG tagging.

  • Nasdaq Sustainable Lens – AI-enabled benchmarking suite (see Section 4).

  • Wolters Kluwer / Enablon – combines EHS and ESG data governance.

  • Sphera – heavy-industry carbon accounting with LCA database.

  • IBM Envizi – integrates directly into SAP S/4HANA and Microsoft Fabric.

  • Diligent – governance-first platform expanding rapidly into climate.

  • Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability – horizontal carbon data platform now packaging double-materiality analytics.

  • Intelex – strength in EHS compliance plus Scope 3 mapping.

Large-cap software outfits (SAP, Oracle, Salesforce) increasingly embed ESG modules in core ERPs, pressuring pure-plays to specialise or merge.

6. Comparative interpretation of the forecasts

Why does Verdantix envision a US$ 5.6 bn market by 2029 while MarketsandMarkets lands on US$ 2.1 bn? Three factors stand out:

  1. Revenue definition. Verdantix counts professional-services and managed-service fees tied to the platform; others isolate licence/SaaS revenue only.

  2. Product scope. Some reports include adjacent “disclosure-management” and “risk analytics” modules; others do not.

  3. Currency & inflation adjustments. Baseline years differ (2023 vs 2024), and inflation-adjusted models naturally yield higher nominal 2029 numbers.

Across all seven studies, however, direction is consistent: double-digit growth, highest momentum in APAC, Cloud-first adoption, and escalating AI investment. Investors can therefore treat the lower bound (≈15 % CAGR) as a conservative case, with upside if generative AI monetises faster.

7. Challenges and risks

  • Regulatory uncertainty. Ironically, the very driver of growth can dampen purchasing when rules are in flux; MarketsandMarkets flags delayed EU sector standards (ESRS E4-E5) as a near-term restraint. marketsandmarkets.com

  • Data quality. A Deloitte/Fletcher School study finds that investors still distrust ESG metrics because of inconsistent definitions and limited third-party assurance. deloitte.wsj.com

  • Skills gap. Pressure on boards to acquire ESG literacy is rising faster than director-education programmes, slowing decision cycles. marketsandmarkets.com

8. Strategic take-aways for market participants

Buy-side investors: treat specialised ESG-software vendors as a leveraged play on regulation. Early movers with deep AI roadmaps (e.g., Workiva, Nasdaq) are likely takeover candidates for ERP giants seeking bolt-on growth.

Corporate reporters: platform selection should prioritise EU CSRD readiness, real-time Scope 3 data ingestion, and API-level integration with ERP/SCM data lakes. Cloud SaaS now dominates, but on-prem remains common in highly regulated BFSI and defence verticals.

Vendors: with average deal sizes still <$300k ARR, expansion depends on upselling analytics and assurance modules. Partnering with audit firms for “data + opinion” bundles can unlock new revenue pools, as evidenced by Wolters Kluwer’s alliances with the Big Four.

Conclusion

Between 2025 and 2030 the ESG reporting-software arena will shift from a niche compliance toolset to a mainstream pillar of enterprise performance management. Our comparative review shows unanimity on robust double-digit growth, even if absolute revenue estimates diverge. Macro forces—tightening disclosure laws, investor activism, and rapid AI-driven automation—point to sustained demand well beyond the current planning horizon. Companies that invest early in scalable, cloud-based ESG platforms stand to cut reporting costs, improve stakeholder trust, and unlock strategic insights from their sustainability data. For vendors and investors alike, the window before market consolidation accelerates is narrow; the next five years will determine who sets the standards for credible, real-time ESG disclosure in the global economy.

Bibliography (Harvard style)

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