What is the status of BV Nederland’s ESG agenda?
How is the ESG agenda of entrepreneurs in our country? Experts from accounting and consulting firms have begun to practically map the key and challenge.
Today, proposals, customers and employees place higher demands on the non-financial performance of companies. For that reason, companies are expected to emerge about the impact of both their own operations and those of their suppliers in supply chains.
It is about the origin of raw materials, but also about the working conditions of products and not about the sustainability of products and services. These conditions are also referred to as the ESG criteria.
ESG criteria revolve around environmental, social and governance criteria for a company’s operations that may have environmental impacts on society. Research by the Big Four firm KPMG shows that no less than 76% of Dutch companies are working on these ESG criteria to varying degrees.
For their research, the specialists at KPMG spoke to more than 260 executives from Dutch companies where more than 250 professionals work. From those conversations it emerged that the majority of these companies (51%) are working on an ESG agenda, because it is important to contribute to better ones.
(49%) let the researchers of something the accounting and consultancy firm work on the ESG criteria because they work at the organizational goals. 41% in turn indicate that they are busy, these form part of the company mission.
But which of the ESG themes are, according to Dutch companies, the most important non-financial indicators within their own organisation? KPMG’s research shows that the theme of working conditions is the most important non-financial indicator, by 45% of the compiled.
It is striking that 50% of companies with at least 500 employees consider working conditions as an important non-financial indicator, according to KPMG. Quite a big difference: where exactly does that come from?
One explanation is that larger organizations are generally more likely to outsource activities abroad, where working conditions are regularly less prosperous than in our country. These are details about especially companies with more than 500 employees who focus on the ESG theme of employment conditions.
Furthermore, there is a big difference between well-intentioned words and experiences. The KG researchers investigated which companies implement their ESG policy into practice. This shows that the majority of Dutch organizations (52%) focus on reusing possible materials.
In addition, half of the respondents (50%) indicate that their organization is working on the ESG agenda by purchasing in a socially responsible manner, 43% say they have a multi-year environmental plan and a third of Dutch companies – in the framework of their ESG agenda – sustainable support.
The fact that many companies are currently working on ESG themes on their own is partly due to the fact that they will be obliged to do so from 2023. The European Union) has decided that from that year many companies will be mandatory. about their ESG policy And according to the CSRD guidelines that have been formed
Previous research by KPMG has shown that many companies are not yet well prepared for this work. And the consulting firm’s most recent poll shows that they aren’t quite there yet. For example, only 22% of Dutch companies are currently fully prepared for the new EU reporting legislation.
This is partly due to the fact that a very large proportion of Dutch companies are not aware of the new European rules for ESG reporting. For example, no less than 72% of the respondents are not familiar with CSRD. And of those who are familiar with it, only 17% know real content.
There are no new rules yet unknown to many. For example, 51% of the obligations indicate that complying with the CSRD obligations becomes difficult because they cannot control all their suppliers.
In addition, 50% say they are against the upcoming rules for ESG reporting, because they entail additional costs. The intention is that there is a competitive advantage for companies for the EU.