CSRD Directive

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) significantly expands and strengthens the rules on sustainability reporting in the EU, replacing the previous Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). It aims to give investors and stakeholders access to more reliable and comparable information on companies' environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance.

Double materiality

A key concept of the CSRD is 'double materiality'. Companies must report not only on how sustainability issues affect their business (financial materiality) but also on how their own operations impact the environment and society (impact materiality).

What has to be published

For transport companies, this has major implications. They will be required to report in detail on:

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Specifically, Scope 1 (direct emissions from their fleet), Scope 2 (indirect emissions from electricity), and potentially Scope 3 (emissions from their value chain).
• Transition Plan: Their strategy to align their business model with the transition to a sustainable economy, including plans for fleet renewal with low-emission vehicles.
• Pollution: How they manage air and noise pollution.
• Social Factors: Policies on employee working conditions and safety.

Reporting as demanding as the financial kind

The CSRD makes ESG reporting as rigorous as financial reporting, requiring third-party auditing and making sustainability a core part of corporate strategy.