Carbon
Offsetting
In general, these include projects aimed at removing, reducing, and preventing green house gas emissions.
The removal or reduction of green house gasses are necessary steps to lower your carbon footprint and achieve carbon neutrality.
Offsets offer a quantifiable and traceable solution to reduce emissions. Unlike other methods, their immediate impact means companies can take swift action to mitigate their environmental impact while pursuing long-term changes.
Offsets are a stepping stone toward sustainability. While they help reduce net emissions, true environmental progress requires a combination of offsetting and changes in operations and practices.
Net zero involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions as close to zero as possible, with any residual emissions removed through carbon capture or offsets, focusing on both reduction and removal. It encompasses a holistic approach across the entire value chain to achieve long-term climate impact.
Carbon neutral refers to balancing emissions by offsetting them without necessarily reducing emissions at the source. It often relies on purchasing carbon credits to compensate for ongoing emissions, which may not address the underlying reduction strategies that are central to a net zero commitment.
Offsetting your carbon emissions augments your sustainability strategy and can act as an established way for to meet your emissions reduction targets. Your offsetting progress can be used to demonstrate positive climate action for sustainability reporting and appeal to environmentally conscious stakeholders. Carbon offsets offer an efficient and quantifiable method to achieve this.
When an offset is complete, your contribution can be viewed on carbon registries such as the Verra Carbon Registry.
When offsetting with Consilium Digital, you will receive a certificate for each successful offset that is retired on your behalf. This will be issued by our offsetting partners and made available to you on the COmpass2 dashboard in your name.
Sustainability Strategy
Your company's sustainability strategy dictates your environmental goals and targets, as well as a concrete action plan to achieve them.
A sustainability strategy involves a few key components: a materiality assessment to prioritize significant sustainability issues, goal setting with measurable KPIs, and a baseline assessment to understand the starting point. It also requires stakeholder engagement to communicate and embed sustainability across the orgnaization, integration with business operations to embed sustainability into decision-making, and an implementation roadmap with defined actions. Monitoring and reporting ensures accountability and compliance with local regulations.
Organizations should gather sustainability data through direct measurements from their own operations, such as energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and waste, often using smart meters or sensors to capture this data. They should also engage with suppliers to obtain relevant data and leverage third-party databases for a fuller picture of their supply chain activities and industry benchmarks. Mature data management is crucial to ensure a single source of truth that complies and standardizes information across the value chain.
Partnerships enable companies to efficiently reach their sustainability goals by leveraging the specialized expertise and knowledge of industry peers and service providers. Collaborating across the supply chain allows access to best practices and innovations, optimizing operations and reducing emissions faster. By collaborating, companies can scale initiatives like renewable energy adoption or emissions reduction more effectively than they could alone.
Sustainability Reporting
The CSRD is the most extensive ESG reporting standard to date mandated by the European Union.
Currently, NFRD-compliant companies will have to report under the updated directive. The eligibility criteria is set to expand starting from 2025 to encompass large non-listed companies and progressively include listed SMEs and subsidiaries of non-EU companies.
Research has estimated 12-18 months for larger firms.
There are monetary penalties for firms that don't adequately perform CSRD reporting.
Yes, all CSRD reports generated are subject to mandatory assurance.
No, there are certain omissions in reporting that CSRD-compliant firms can make in the first couple of years, subject to the outcomes of their materiality assessments.
The Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) was the initial ESG reporting standard in the EU, focusing on large public-interest entities. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) expands this framework to include a broader range of companies and a more rigorous and standardized ESG reporting requirement, ensuring greater transparency and accountability.
To prepare for CSRD compliance, companies should conduct a thorough materiality assessment, establish the necessary data collection and management processes, engage stakeholders, and integrate the outcomes of CSRD in decision making.
