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The new EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive applies to companies operating in the EU meeting two out of three criteria:
- more than 250 employees
- €40 million turnover or
- €20 million on their balance sheet.
It also applies to smaller EU companies that are publicly listed, but significantly, also to non-EU businesses with net turnover in the EU of more than €150 million. Some 50,000 large, medium and small businesses in the EU will need to apply the rules between 2024 and 2029.
With the introduction of the EU’s CSRD businesses can expect to be audited with regards to their ESG activities. The directive goes further than any before with regards to non-financial requirements, and requires companies to include information about their Supply Chain. Travel, falls into Scope 3 emissions, directly related to Supply Chain.
The significance of the directive lies within its so-called “double materiality”: impact materiality and financial materiality. Corporates will be required to report on the environmental, social and governance impact of their activities, as well as how climate change affects their business. Where limited assurance may be sufficient for some initially, a move towards reasonable assurance is coming.
How can ATPI Halo support travel managers and others responsible for corporate travel programmes?
The report includes a line on business travel emissions, making them visible and comparable (with their peers for example). That in turn means companies will also be under pressure to reduce their travel GHG footprint to remain attractive to buyers, investors etc..
If your company is not in the EU, it could still be asked for information, because it is part of another company’s value chain. So, all multi-national companies are advised to be prepared. The US is also introducing regulation along similar lines later in 2024.
This is an important moment for travel managers to show they are part of the ESG conversation and strategy, and how they can support their business in this respect.
Through our partnership with Thrust Carbon, and our state-of-the-art Analytics 2.0 reporting platform, ATPI is able to support clients with the necessary CO2e travel data. ATPI Account Managers can work closely with clients, to identify areas where the travel related CO2e can be reduced, by travelling smarter (shifting from higher to lower emitting travel options) to simply travelling less. Or how about combining trips to the same or nearby locations, as opposed to taking multiple trips. The latter is likely to have a positive impact on traveller well-being also.
It is understood that for many clients travel is unavoidable, especially where moving workforces to and from their work location is critical to operations, and where in-person meetings are essential to business performance and success.
This is why we created APTI Halo. Because we understand that, once measures have been taken to reduce the GHG footprint, the residual travel CO2e emissions need to be addressed. ATPI Halo offers a range of fully certified carbon offset projects at competitive prices that meet all due diligence requirements, enabling clients to reduce their unavoidable carbon travel footprint. Our 12+ projects are of the highest standard and we are delighted to know they have already supported some clients in passing their ESG audits.
The reason why the regulation has been enacted is simple: The EU considered businesses were not doing enough to combat climate change. The enactment provides the perfect platform for companies to demonstrate their desire and ability to achieve a combination of regulatory requirements, as well as voluntary initiatives (voluntary carbon market offsets).
