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CSRD, Science Based Targets and steering for social impact: what are they and what can you do with them?

If you want to tackle sustainable business seriously and holistically, the guidelines and laws that are coming up can be quite dizzying. As a large company, but also as an SME. MVO Nederland lists the three most important ways for you. And provides you with a concrete next step in all three.

CSRD

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is a European directive that requires larger SMEs to report on non-financial performance, such as greenhouse gas emissions, corruption and diversity. But also on the impact your company has on biodiversity and human rights violations in the supply chain. The CSRD will apply from 1 January 2024 to companies subject to the non-financial reporting directive (NFRD) and from 2025 to large companies not currently subject to the NFRD. For SMEs, the CSRD will apply from 1 January 2026. A company is large if it meets at least two of the three criteria below.

  • More than 250 employees

  • More than 50 million euro turnover per year

  • More than 25 million euro on the balance sheet

For almost all companies, this boils down to working on or preparing for the CSRD now. That this is a challenge is a fact. CSR Netherlands guides companies on their way to integrating the directive into their organisation. With the Omnibus package, your preparation might change. To keep you informed of developments, we are organising the webinar 'Getting started with the Omnibus package'. Sign up via the button below.

Go to the webinar 'Getting started with the Omnibus package'

Are you also wondering: what is the CSRD guideline and how do you go about it? On this page you will find all the information you need.

Steering for social impact

Steering for social impact is done when you want to know exactly what intended and unintended social effects your company has. This not only fits well with the content of the CSRD, but also gives you tools to reduce your negative impact and increase the positive impact. So measuring impact is not about plans or targets, but about the actual impact you have on people, nature and society. The aim of an impact exercise is to comply with the CSRD guideline, for instance, but also to steer towards reducing your negative impact and enhancing the positive effects of your company.

For financial matters, internationally recognised performance measures exist, such as profit, turnover, EBITDA and ROI. For social impact, these are still under development. The big exception is greenhouse gas emissions - Science Based Targets have been developed for that. So for your impact on biodiversity, innovation or, say, diversity, the trick is to develop KPIs that help you improve non-financial performance.

Via the button below, download a concrete and practical roadmap to manage social impact yourself. Please note: this is only available if you are a partner of MVO Nederland.

👉🏽 Prefer working on new wealth as a broad theme? We've got you covered. Download this roadmap here.

To the 'Steering for social impact' roadmap

Science Based Targets

Science Based Targets (SBTs) are science-based emission targets that are sufficient, in proportion to the nature and size of your business, to meet the Paris Climate Agreement. There, it was agreed that we should limit global warming to well below 2 degrees, and if possible to no more than 1.5 degrees. SBTs require a thorough analysis of your emissions and reduction plans.  Big advantage is that you can be sure that your climate efforts are sufficient; not for nothing are SBTs considered the 'gold standard'. They put an end to long-running discussions about the level of ambition of energy and climate targets. And then you can focus on the core: reducing emissions.

Via the button below, download a concrete and practical step-by-step plan to work according to Science Based Targets yourself. Please note: this is only available if you are a partner of MVO Nederland.

Download the 'Getting started with Science Based Targets' roadmap

Need help?

CSR Netherlands organises Community of Practices on all three topics in which you work with other companies on these three guidelines. Take a look at our events calendar and register. Not seeing an event of your choice? Subscribe to our newsletter below and receive an e-mail as soon as these events are available.

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