A significant portion of responsibility for the global socio-economic crisis referred by the authors as the "sustainability challenge" lies within the private sector. Hence to initiate a global transformation towards sustainability the participation of companies is essential. One way to engage the private sector to do that is through public policy. The European Union takes this approach with the European Green Deal and more specifically - the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) - which is the main focus of this research. The directive aims to enhance transparency, raise awareness and increase responsibility of the corporate societal and environmental impact.

This thesis investigates the potency of CSRD to drive transformation. For this purpose this research employs a Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD) lens to evaluate the CSRD, identifying its strengths and weaknesses. The research is divided into two parts: the first assesses the frameworks' design using the SSD lens, while the second involves interviews to gain deeper insights and pinpoint design and implementation gaps. The study also presents an overview of the challenges encountered during the implementation of the CSRD and proposes potential solutions. The thesis concludes with recommendations and suggests directions for future research.