Since the 2017 financial year, large, capital market-oriented companies in the EU have been required by the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) to submit an annual non-financial statement. In Germany, this is implemented by the CSR Directive Implementation Act.
In April 2021, the EU presented a draft revision of the NFRD to extend the reporting obligation as part of the "EU Sustainable Finance April 2021 package" - a measure of the EU Green Deal. If the EU Commission's proposal for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is implemented in national law, all large companies with more than 250 employees and total assets of more than 20 million Euro or sales of more than 40 million Euro would be affected, regardless of capital market orientation. This would increase the number of affected companies in Germany by a factor of approximately twenty. The content to be reported will also be significantly expanded and the qualitative requirements will increase.
In addition, the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy will result in extended reporting requirements for companies from 2022. Furthermore, the Non-Financial Reporting Directive is currently under review. This process is also very likely to result in new requirements. Due to the strong focus on the topic of "climate", voluntary climate-relevant reporting formats, such as the CDP or the requirements of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), can be very helpful in implementing the obligations.
FutureCamp supports you in the following tasks:
- Identifying and meeting regulatory requirements
- Development of sustainability strategies with derivation of targets, key figures and measures
- Organizational anchoring of sustainability
- Preparation of sustainability reports according to common standards (e.g. Global Reporting Initiative - GRI SRS, German Sustainability Code - DNK) and support of upstream processes such as
- Stakeholder participation
- Materiality analyses (also taking into account the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs)
- Defining key performance indicators, data queries
- Introduction of a CSR management system
- Coordinating external service providers e.g. communication agencies, translators
- Support in audit processes
- Participating in common sustainability assessments such as ISS-ESG.
- Preparing and conducting supplier assessments and audits, e.g. EcoVadis, NQC.
FutureCamp is an official training partner for the German Sustainability Code and regularly holds events in this context.
In order to live up to our own sustainability standards and also to report transparently on progress and potential for improvement, we have regularly published a declaration of conformity with the German Sustainability Code (DNK) since 2016. Accordingly, our declaration for the 2020 reporting year can be viewed publicly on the DNK website following its review by the DNK office.
"Through CSR Reporting, you have already gained experience with the GRI standards or the DNK and established processes for reporting in your company. You have thus initiated a continuous improvement process in the direction of sustainability. In addition, you have deepened the knowledge of your own value chain and thus obtained important information on where potential risks for your company might lie. Now it is time to take another step on the way to an integrated sustainability strategy. Use the positive effects of your structured sustainability reporting and any synergies that may have arisen to give your company a head start and make it fit for the future."
Hannah Powarcinsky has been advising private-sector companies ranging from DAX-listed corporations to SMEs as well as public-sector clients for FutureCamp since 2011. As Head of Sustainability Services, she is primarily responsible for the business unit "Sustainability". As an experienced project manager, she has extensive experience in the fields of sustainability strategy and reporting, climate strategy, carbon footprinting and climate neutrality. This also includes the content design and implementation of workshops and training courses in the aforementioned areas.
Highlight-Projekt:
Covestro
FutureCamp has supported Covestro since 2016 in its annual sustainability reporting in accordance with GRI standards, its successful participation in CDP, and the preparation of its first comprehensive TCFD report.
"FutureCamp provided us with very competent support. Ms. Gruß and your team worked intensively on our content and provided valuable advice that contributed to a substantial improvement of our sustainability reporting."
Vice President Corporate Sustainability of Covestro, Dr. Bischof
In order to describe and evaluate the impact of products or even services (e.g. transportation) on the environment as comprehensively as possible, it is necessary, on the one hand, to consider the entire life cycle ("from cradle to grave") and to take into account the various environmental impacts (such as greenhouse effect, acidification, eutrophication, destruction of the ozone layer, soil pollution, resource consumption and more).
In its practical application, LCA can be helpful in many cases, whether it is to compare the sustainability of products, optimize within the supply chain, identify hotspots, or avoid shifting environmental impacts to other areas.
Indeed, looking at individual environmental impacts alone may fall short, because improvements in one impact category can lead to countervailing developments in other impact categories. An example of this is the low specific greenhouse gas emissions when transporting goods by oceangoing ship, but high soot, sulfur dioxide and heavy metal emissions when the ship is operated with heavy fuel oil.
International standards, such as ISO 14040 and 14044, have existed for many years with clear specifications and recommendations for carrying out and documenting life cycle assessments. Professional databases and software tools are used for a comprehensive analysis of the material and energy flows involved.
A life cycle assessment is carried out in four steps in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 14040/14044 standards:
1. Definition of objectives, system boundaries and scope of investigation:
Which products or services are analyzed and compared under which framework conditions?
2. Life cycle inventory:
Which material and energy flows occur in the life cycle of the product?
3. Impact assessment:
How are the results of the life cycle inventory assessed in terms of their environmental impact?
4. Evaluation:
How are the results of the life cycle inventory and impact assessment evaluated in summary?
A major challenge in a life cycle inventory is to summarize the different environmental impacts (e.g. greenhouse effect or eutrophication). For this purpose, different assessment methods exist, which differ in their approach, e.g. with regard to weighting.
In addition to the selection of the appropriate impact categories, the definition of the scope of the study and the product system is an essential basis for the collection of the necessary data and the evaluation and interpretation of the LCA results.
FutureCamp supports you in the preparation of a life cycle assessment according to the standards DIN EN ISO 14040/14044. We help you
- decide which products and services are essential for your environmental performance and how these can be analyzed and evaluated,
- in the professional and technical preparation of a life cycle assessment for the selected products or services,
- establish the processes to enable regular review of their environmental and sustainability performance,
- prepare and communicate the information in a way that is appropriate to the target group and standards, and
- in preparing and conducting an (external) critical review of the results.
At FutureCamp, Michael Lörcher advises companies on the introduction and development of management systems in accordance with EMAS and ISO 14001, ISO 9001, ISO 50001 and ISO 45001 and prepares product life cycle assessments. He has been active as a consultant in the areas of corporate environmental protection and energy and sustainability management since 1992. He is an expert in the field of life cycle assessments, LCAs and integrated product policy. Mr. Lörcher was a member of the standards committee for the standardisation of ISO 14040/44 for product life cycle assessments for eight years. He is a registered energy auditor at BAFA for the implementation of energy audits according to DIN EN 16247.
Highlight Projects:
TRIMET
Preparation of a product life cycle assessment (LCA) for the production of recycled aluminum products
Schlagmann Building Materials
LCA analysis for various building material products
Industrial Bakery
Product life cycle assessment and comparison of conventional and organic bread types
Growing industrialisation and intensification of farming, population growth and climate change are resulting in a lack of drinking and processing water in an ever increasing number of regions. Water scarcity or flooding, stricter requirements for wastewater treatment and the entire value chain of a product present new challenges and tasks for European companies, too.
An active water management
- helps you to identify and minimize risks early on,
- promotes the attractiveness of your company and your products for investors and customers,
- optimizes the process structures and thus reduces costs.
FutureCamp can support you
- in the development of a sustainable water strategy for your company and the definition of company-specific targets,
- in the analysis, evaluation and monitoring of various reporting formats such as
- CDP Water,
- GRI (Standard 303 Water and Effluents),
- Water Stewardship (EWS, AWS),
- Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001, EMAS),
- as well as industry and association standards;
- in determining the direct and indirect water footprint for the company or for individual products according to different guidelines:
- Water Footprint Network
- ISO 14046
- in analyzing and assessing geohazards and environmental hazards in cooperation with MunichRe and the CDP Water Watch Impact Index
- in the development of a sustainable water strategy for your company and the definition of a company-specific target.
Management systems for quality, environment, occupational safety and energy are often introduced in companies as parallel systems. In addition, they are not always optimally implemented, which reduces their effective further benefit. Integrated systems, on the other hand, make a significant contribution to increasing a company's profitability, meeting quality requirements and legal regulations, and achieving environmental and climate protection goals.
Our service portfolio for you includes:
- Introduction and further development of management systems according to DIN EN ISO 50001, DIN EN ISO 9001, DIN EN ISO 14001 and EMAS
- Supporting the conversion to standard revisions as well as the integration of management systems
- Conducting workshops and employee training
- Conducting context, opportunity/risk and stakeholder analyses
- Conduct internal audits.
- Development of key figures and targets
Angelika Berghald has been working as a consultant at FutureCamp Climate since 2016, primarily in the areas of energy, management systems, LCA and carbon footprinting. As an experienced project manager, she supports clients in all issues relevant to these areas. As a recognized representative for quality, environment and energy according to ISO 9001, 14001 and 50001, she supports clients in the introduction and further development of management systems and carries out internal audits in companies.
Highlight-Projekt:
Wienerberger
FutureCamp has been supporting the brick producer Wienerberger since 2011 in the continuous development and improvement of the integrated management system (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001) at all German production sites with a focus on strategic alignment, documentation of implemented efficiency measures, further development of energy indicators, target definition and management documentation of the company.