The Green Tech Blues
Why do CSR and IT still struggle to work hand in hand? What are the tangible benefits of well-orchestrated cooperation? And how can obligations be transformed into genuine levers for action?
To kick off our series THE GREEN TECH BLUES, we interviewed… our own CEO. Yes, we own it! A former CIO of major corporations, her cross-functional perspective offers valuable insight into CSR x IT collaboration.
Christine, you are launching a series titled "The Green Tech Blues"… as CEO of VERDIKT, isn't there an element of self-promotion here?
(Laughs) True — and I own it completely! Before joining VERDIKT, I spent over 25 years as a CIO. That experience is precisely what gives me a particular perspective on these issues. I’ve worked closely with many business lines, support functions, and several CSR managers, and I’ve experienced firsthand those recurring tensions between IT and the rest of the organisation.
Today, at VERDIKT, we consistently find that the quality of the relationship between IT (a key player in accessing company data) and CSR (responsible for collecting cross-functional data) is decisive for the success of our measurement and reporting projects. Yes, there’s a certain irony in interviewing your own CEO… but it’s also an opportunity for an unvarnished conversation.
Let's be frank then: is Sustainable Digital really going through a difficult patch?
I’d say it’s gone through a phase of uncertainty. Between 2022 and 2024, we were in a period full of optimism where CSR, transition, and sustainability were on everyone’s mind… Then, towards the end of 2024 and especially into 2025, we saw a market slowdown, budget cuts redirected towards AI, and regulatory deadlines pushed back. A certain disillusionment settled in.
In reality, this is a classic adoption cycle for any new technology ‘trend’ (somewhat in the spirit of the Gartner model… my CIO past resurfacing). Peaks and troughs always precede the emergence of maturity. When some CSR managers are finally moving from talk to action (notably with CSRD wave 1 and the associated data collection), while IT must — on top of its existing roadmap — absorb AI, it’s easy to see why the context hardly encourages mutual listening and constructive exchanges!
Drawing on your experience as a CIO: when did you first realise that CSR was going to become a challenge for IT — and vice versa?
In 2018, a Head of Sustainable Development asked me what we could report in the extra-financial report about the digital transformation I was leading. The question caught me off guard — and at first, I had no answer.
That same year, 2018, the first data on digital pollution was published. I took note of it, and my teams (including my future co-founder) started questioning me on the topic…
The real turning point came when I read extra-financial reports — notably Michelin’s, which was a pioneer at the time, presenting its financial and extra-financial performance side by side. That’s when I understood: CSR cannot be deployed without IT and its data. And conversely, IT will not be able to ignore its CSR impacts, whether environmental or social. It seemed obvious to me… perhaps a little visionary, admittedly, but it’s on this deep conviction that we built VERDIKT — even if I had to convince more than a few people along the way.
CSR cannot be deployed without IT and its data. And conversely, IT will not be able to ignore its CSR impacts
CSR and IT speak different languages. To collaborate effectively, do you first need to accept those differences? How do you approach this in practice?
Yes, absolutely. Accepting those differences is the essential starting point. You can’t force two professional cultures to merge artificially. IT speaks in terms of IS, APIs, data flows, availability. CSR speaks in materiality, scope 3, stakeholders, climate trajectories. These aren’t just different vocabularies — they’re entirely different frameworks for reading the world, ones that don’t naturally overlap.
In concrete terms, three main differences complicate their collaboration:
The first obstacle is language. CSR expresses itself in extra-financial indicators, impact trajectories, and regulatory compliance. IT, for its part, operates with SLAs, incidents, and short-term return on investment. Without a bridge between these two worlds, each progresses in its own silo.
The second is timing. CSR operates on a long-term transformation logic. IT must deliver urgently, responding to immediate demands. This mismatch in rhythm generates misunderstanding and tension on both sides.
The third is the absence of shared tools. On one side, CSR works with Excel spreadsheets; on the other, IT has technical monitoring tools… but nothing genuinely allows for joint management. The result: CSR initiatives that struggle to take operational shape, and an IT team that feels it’s being handed vague, poorly-scoped requests.
To move past these three obstacles, at VERDIKT we work in three stages, well ahead of critical deadlines:
- Mutual translation. We run sessions where each side explains its language and constraints. For example: what is a carbon footprint from a CSR perspective? What data is needed? And on the IT side: where does that data come from, in which systems, with what reliability? It’s reciprocal ‘decoding’ work.
- Identifying friction points and opportunities. We map together: where are the sticking points? Often it’s around data access, quality, and availability. But also: where can we help each other? IT needs to measure its own impacts (energy, equipment); CSR needs to structure its data collection… there are synergies to activate.
- Establishing regular dialogue rituals. Not crisis meetings in firefighting mode three weeks before a CSRD deadline, but regular touchpoints upstream, from the scoping phase onwards. A joint IT-CSR steering committee, for example, meeting monthly to anticipate needs, adjust priorities, and avoid misunderstandings.
It’s not glamorous, but it works. And above all, it builds trust.
And what tangible benefits have you seen from this approach?
Several — and they’re measurable.
First, a significant time saving. The typical scenario we encounter: ‘We can’t start — IT has the data but zero availability for the next three months.’ Unthinkable for me as a former CIO! That’s the cost of non-collaboration. When IT and CSR work hand in hand from the outset, that bottleneck disappears. Needs are anticipated, priorities aligned, requests scoped. Projects stop stalling and move into smooth, predictable cycles.
Then, better data quality. When IT understands what CSR is trying to measure and why, it can point to the right sources, anticipate traceability needs, and suggest usable formats. The result: more reliable, better-documented data that holds up under audit.
And then, a cultural effect we didn’t anticipate at the outset. IT teams who get involved in CSR projects feel more like stakeholders in the company’s transformation. They’re no longer just a cost centre or an internal service provider — they become strategic actors in overall performance. It changes their stance and restores a sense of purpose.
Today, at VERDIKT, you're on the other side of the fence. What has changed in your perspective?
Quite a lot, actually. When I was a CIO, I was aware of CSR issues, but I mostly saw them as an added constraint on an already packed roadmap. One more request — often vague — arriving at the wrong moment. I was well-intentioned, but not necessarily proactive.
Today, I measure the urgency differently. I see how much pressure companies are under from a regulatory standpoint, how the CSRD is not a passing trend but a structural transformation. And above all, I realise how indispensable IT is to that transformation. Without reliable data, without systems to collect and trace it, CSR remains just talk. IT isn’t a simple data supplier — it’s the backbone of the whole approach.
What has really changed is also my understanding of the struggle on the CSR side. When you’re a CSR manager, you’re juggling blurry perimeters, data scattered across fifteen different systems, stakeholders who don’t speak the same language. You have a strategic mission but limited resources — and sometimes limited legitimacy. I’ve developed genuine empathy for that function.
And paradoxically, this dual perspective makes me more demanding: I know what’s technically possible, and I also know what’s absolutely necessary on the CSR side. So I no longer accept easy excuses from either party. My role at VERDIKT is to break down barriers, force the dialogue, and prove that a well-run IT-CSR collaboration changes everything.
You're about to publish a White Paper on CSR x IT collaboration. What can we expect from it?
A practical tool, not a theoretical manifesto. We wanted to consolidate everything we’ve observed, lived through, and experimented with over these past years — both at VERDIKT and through my experience as a CIO. The goal is to give concrete keys to the teams on the ground who are struggling to get these two worlds talking to each other.
Concretely, the White Paper — coming soon — will cover several areas:
- The fundamentals: why this collaboration has become unavoidable, what the regulatory and strategic stakes are that make it necessary — particularly with the CSRD.
- Classic barriers: we dissect the blockages we systematically encounter — differences in language, timing, culture, lack of shared tools — and above all, we explain how to overcome them.
- Actionable methods: how to organise dialogue between IT and CSR? What rituals to put in place? How to structure CSR data governance? Who does what, and when?
- Real-world experience: concrete cases — what worked, what didn’t, and the lessons we drew from them. Because theory is fine, but real examples are better.
- Practical tools: diagnostic grids, data mapping templates, checklists for launching an IT-CSR project under the right conditions.
The idea is that any CIO, any CSR manager, can say: ‘OK, I know where to start, I’m not on my own, and there’s a path that’s already been cleared.’ We want to inspire — but above all, to give the means to act.
The idea is that any CIO, any CSR manager, can say: 'OK, I know where to start, I'm not on my own, and there's a path that's already been cleared'
A final message for IT and CSR leadership?
Yes: get out of the blues — together.
I know the period isn’t easy. Budgets are tight, AI is vampirising all the attention, CSRD deadlines are slipping, and we all have a slightly sinking feeling that sustainable digital has gone out of fashion before it even properly took off. But this is precisely the moment to hold the line.
To IT teams, I’d say: don’t underestimate your role. You’re not just data suppliers or technical executors. You are the architects of traceability, the guarantors of the reliability of information that will enable the company to steer its transformation. That’s strategic. And yes, it deserves a place on your roadmap — right alongside AI and cybersecurity.
To CSR teams, I’d say: stop thinking that IT doesn’t understand you, or that it’s deliberately blocking you. IT is under pressure, it has its own constraints, and it needs you to help it understand your needs. Come with clear language, well-scoped requests — and above all, come early. Not three weeks before the deadline.
And to both: talk to each other. Really. Not in emergency mode, not each in your own corner. Create spaces for dialogue, build a shared language, acknowledge your interdependencies. Because sustainable digital will not happen with one without the other.
And equip yourselves with shared tools. Because you can’t steer a company transformation with Excel files circulating by email and tools that don’t talk to each other. You need a shared platform — one that allows IT to understand where data requests are coming from, and CSR to see what’s available, reliable, and traceable. That’s exactly what we set out to create with VERDIKT: a neutral ground where IT and CSR can finally collaborate with the same references, the same vision, the same objectives.
The blues passes. But only if we stop playing solo and start composing together.
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