Sustainability Report: mandatory from 2024

The sustainability report is currently mandatory for 11,600 European companies in total, i.e. large listed companies. However, with the new European CSRD reporting regulation (EU Directive 2022/2624 of 14 December 2022), published in the Official Journal of the European Union last 16 December and entering into force on 5 January 2023, companies will be obliged to report their environmental, social and governance impacts. In particular, those companies that exceed at least two of these three limits will be obliged to report: more than 250 employees, more than 40 million turnover, annual budget of at least 43 million.

In this context, the regulation of corporate sustainability reporting changes in an important way: thesustainability report becomes mandatory for an increasing number of companies and must be certified by independent bodies. In this way, the sustainability report becomes as important as the financial report, with which it can be published in an integrated manner. The new CSDR rewrites the rules for the preparation of sustainability reports, imposing a new single European standard. This favours the publication of more complete, uniform, comparable and independently certified information by an accredited body.

The new CSRD replaces the previous Directive 2014/95/EU (Non-Financial Reporting Directive, NFRD) transposed in Italy by Legislative Decree No. 254 of 30 December 2016. All large companies and listed SMEs will therefore have to report their sustainability information following the new standards. In Italy the Directive will directly oblige approximately 10,000 companies, but will effectively impact 120,000 companies in total (suppliers). The obligations will start from 2024 and will be gradual, with the aim of reaching full implementation in 2028.

The new CSRD Directive addresses all large companies - also unlisted - and all listed SMEs according to the following roadmap - 2025: large enterprises already subject to non-financial reporting will be involved, with reference to data from the financial year 2024. They will therefore have to adopt the tools to collect the data to be published in 2025 as early as 2024;
. - 2026: with reference to data from the financial year 2025, the large enterprises currently not subject to the NFRD (with more than 250 employees and/or EUR 50 million in turnover);
- 2027: with reference to data from the financial year 2026, the listed SMEs (no microenterprises). These will enjoy a transitional period, which will exempt them from the application of the Directive until 2028.

What about the biodiversity? Are there any updates or changes taking place? At the moment we know that the new standards being released (GRI and ESRS) will be much more stringent and that biodiversity reporting will become mandatory for entire sectors. In this context, 3Bee's dedicated team is constantly updated on the new regulations in this area: we are experts in sustainability and support organisations and companies in the implementation of biodiversity regeneration projects through technology. The innovative technologies of 3Bee enable precise and measurable data, which are valuable for companies in the process of sustainability reporting. With this in mind, we have decided to make the necessary knowledge and resources available to companies - with a free practical guide on sustainability reporting - to delve deeper into the ever-evolving topic and adopt best practices. Want to learn more?