The REP Wrap: Updates from Novo Nordisk, LEGO and Equinor
Europe’s financial reporting body, EFRAG, is looking for new members for its sustainability team. Successful candidates will serve for one or two years, starting in May, with the potential to stay on for up to six years. “They will engage in monthly meetings, with between 20% and 30% of their working time dedicated to EFRAG activities,” the body said. It is particularly interested in hearing from those preparing, auditing and using CSRD reports. Applications are open until March 17th, with interviews conducted in March and April.
Novo Nordisk has revised its reported Scope 3 emissions for 2023 down by half in its first mandatory sustainability statement. Most of the reduction came from Scope 3 categories related to buying goods and services, and happened because the Danish pharmaceutical firm changed its methodology. A spokesperson told REP that the firm had assessed its original disclosures and concluded that its “spend-based emissions were largely overstated” so it had “corrected this to capture supplier specific data and enable better tracking going forward”.
The LEGO Group has announced a DKK 19m ($2.6m) commitment to four carbon removal projects in partnership with Climate Impact Partners and ClimeFi. The projects will create credits through biochar, rock weathering and reforestation-based carbon removals.
The Financial Reporting Council has suggested several “remedies” to the challenges the UK is facing around sustainability assurance. One of the suggestions, informed by dialogue with companies and auditors, is the creation of a “holistic regulatory regime” to allow all the elements needed for sustainability assurance to be brought together in one place.
Equinor has slashed its target for renewables in response to market “realities”. On Wednesday, along with its end of year results, the Norwegian oil major announced it had “retired” its ambition to allocate half of its capital expenditure to renewables and low-carbon solution by the end of the decade.
South Korean utility KEPCO has chosen not to label its US bonds as ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ for the first time in over a decade, according to think tank Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute. The firm, which is a major borrower and benefits from government guarantees, did not explain why it had decided to issue conventional notes this time.
The EU’s research arm has produced a study on the product groups that would benefit from a scoring system for product reparability. The Joint Research Council focused on small household appliances, consumer electronics and products covered by the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan. It concluded that imaging equipment and games consoles were the most in need of such a scoring system.
The French regulator, AMF, has approved the first EU Green Bond for trading on the Euronext Paris. Île-de-France Mobilités, a government authority that oversees the country’s public transport companies, will issue a deal that complies with the new regulatory label, including the alignment of its proceeds with the EU taxonomy.
There is confusion over the Science Based Targets initiative’s (SBTi) financial future, after the FT reported the Bezos Earth Fund is stepping back from funding the project. SBTi has been reliant on grants from the philanthropic body, set up by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, but is understood to have had disagreements with it over the role of carbon offsets in achieving corporate net-zero targets. However, spokespeople for the Earth Fund and SBTi have both since told the media that no final decision has been made.