The REP Wrap: CSRD sector rules delayed, bumper week for nature reporting
Your weekly summary of corporate sustainability news.
The EU has moved a step closer to delaying the inclusion of sector-specific standards in the Corporate Reporting Sustainability Directive (CSRD). The legal affairs committee of European Parliament voted this week to support the Commission’s plan to push back the adoption of the standards by two years, in order to give companies more time to get used to the sector-agnostic standards released last year. However, the Parliament has said that the Commission should publish the sector-specific standards “as soon as they’re ready”. The decision came on the back of a statement from 25 business leaders to “stress the importance for the EU to continue the development of sector-specific reporting standards”. The open letter said businesses needed them to better understand how to comply with the CSRD, and to reduce costs. Most of the signatories came from finance, but those from real-economy companies included Mylène Rahel Damamme, Decathlon’s ESG & Sustainability reporting lead, and Thomas Greigeritsch, head of sustainability at paper and packaging company Mayr-Melnhof Karton.
Tesco, Grupo SURA and AECOM are among six companies to have released case studies on their efforts to implement the recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. The project, coordinated by non-profit Global Canopy, saw the firms assess their nature-related issues using the TNFD’s approach.
Meanwhile, the Science-based Targets Network has published the reflections of 17 companies that have been piloting its standards for nature. Nestle, AB InBev and GSK are among those signed up to a one-year trial of the framework, which began last May. Their thoughts will feed into the final version, which SBTN describes as “the first validated corporate targets on nature”. The network will roll out to other companies later this year.
In other nature-related news, the Global Reporting Initiative has launched a major update of its biodiversity standards. Following a consultation last year, in which the body received 122 responses, the standard has been overhauled to consider the EU’s biodiversity standard, as well as those from SBTN, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, and the World Benchmarking Alliance’s nature benchmark. It will officially come into effect for GRI reports in 2026, but companies can use it immediately.
The UK Government has extended the mandate of its Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) to enable it to support the country’s ‘transition finance market review’. Launched in 2022, TPT has developed guidelines for climate transition plans and will soon finalise sector-specific guidance and advice on the role of climate adaptation, nature and the just transition in transition plans. It will also provide context for transition plans in emerging markets, developing economies and from SMEs. The transition finance market review will explore ways of scaling transition finance. TPT’s mandate has been extended until at least July, possibly October, to support that work.
Half of listed mining companies, by market capitalisation, have now committed to new standards in the aftermath of the 2019 Brumadinho Tailings Disaster. 77 firms have standards developed in partnership with investors and the UN. A $25trn group of investors will now put pressure on the remaining 126 companies to follow suit.