Italian listed SMEs and corporate sustainability reporting directive: an exploratory content analysis focused on climate change

Purpose Italian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are adapting their sustainability reporting systems in response to the requirements set out by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), with a specific focus on climate-related disclosure. In this way, this study aims to analyze the extent to which such companies are responding. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the declared goal, a content analysis was conducted on the 17 sustainability reports produced by SMEs listed on the Euronext Growth Milan on January 10, 2025. The reports were examined through a specific research protocol, classifying them into services, technology and trade sectors and conducting a content analysis using Python on the topic of climate change. For this final step, the interoperability document developed by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group was used to connect Global Reporting Initiative standards to ESRS standards, thereby aligning the analysis with international best practices in sustainability reporting. Findings Despite the growing attention to sustainability and climate change issues, only a small percentage of listed SMEs are currently disclosing non-financial information aligned with sustainability reporting practices and particularly with the ESRS compliances’ provisions. Among these, only a few address the climate change issue with a substantive approach. They often provide impact assessments of the actions undertaken within the company. However, none of the reports show any evidence of financial impact assessments, as required by the double materiality principle introduced by the CSRD. Research limitations/implications From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to the literature on SMEs and climate change reporting as specific non-financial disclosure domains. From a managerial perspective, the study provides an initial insight into the climate change topics, promoting the best of knowledge on the themes that listed SMEs must assess under the double lens of materiality in the near future. Practical implications The main limitations of this research concern the narrow territorial context analyzed, based solely on the Italian listed SMEs that publish sustainability reports. In the future, this limitation could be addressed by analyzing climate change issues in other European contexts that allow SMEs to be listed on the stock market. Originality/value The originality of this study lies in its contribution to the literature on non-financial disclosure through the lens of legitimacy theory. It provides an analysis of climate-change topics within the sustainability reports of Italian listed SMEs and attempts to address these topics through both the substantive and symbolic approaches discussed by scholars.