New approaches in IT data management for CO₂ targets and EU CSRD

Kiel - More than 50,000 EU companies are required to implement the EU CSRD within the next five years. In addition, there is the so-called EU Taxonomy Regulation, which classifies companies according to the degree to which environmental goals have been achieved. In future, these classifications will be used to direct capital flows to companies that have a proven track record in environmental management. The common goal of both regulations is to achieve climate neutrality for the entire EU by 2050.

As a result of the interaction between the EU Taxonomy Regulation and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), companies will in future have to report on how sustainable their business activities are.

How can IT help here?

For example, with energy efficiency monitoring: software that monitors and analyses the energy consumption of IT infrastructures. It identifies energy wastage and enables companies to utilise their resources more efficiently.

And: data science solutions that analyse data from a wide variety of sources and thus create a complete insight for the sustainability report. Using innovative approaches to digital environmental data collection (CO₂, energy, water, etc.), companies can make sustainability reporting more efficient in accordance with the EU CSRD Directive. Real-time insights into the CO₂ and environmental footprint also enable them to take targeted measures to reduce carbon and costs.

Best Practice

Together with the European environmental consultancy TAUW, the IT service provider Consist has created a special information format for this purpose. The digitalisation of the collection of environmental metrics for CSRD or ESG reports is demonstrated using a specific use case. Companies will learn how they can feed their data into a tool that includes storage, KPIs and reporting and creates a representative report using easy-to-create analysis dashboards.

Reducing the carbon footprint through even more digitalised data streams? What may seem like a contradiction at first glance, as IT infrastructures also cause emissions, is not at all contradictory according to the Bitkom study "Climate effects of digitalisation". According to the study, the positive effect of digital technologies on achieving climate targets clearly outweighs the negative effects and increases the faster digitalisation is implemented.

Interested companies are welcome to contact TAUW or Consist to learn more about how to digitise their sustainability reporting, prepare for the EU CSRD reporting requirements and reduce their company's environmental footprint.

Further Information:

• Sustainability Services of Consist: green data
• About TAUW: tauw.de
• About CSRD: csr-in-deutschland.de
• Bitkom Study: org/bitkom_studie.pdf