GS1 Portugal analyzes sustainability and decarbonization: the challenges of reporting and energy transition
GS1 Portugal promoted, on the 25th of January, the event “Sustainability and decarbonization. What about now?”, which he circumvents with interventions by different specialists in the field of sustainability. Topics such as climate change, energy transition and ways in which companies can take a step towards a more sustainable future are highlighted.
João Guimarães, executive director of GS1 Portugal, started the event, framing the current reality, “in which the consumer is increasingly informing and penalizing companies that are not concerned with sustainability and governance”.
In the first moment of interventions, Pedro Dominguinhos, chairman of the Commission for Monitoring the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), addressed the theme “Industry Capitalization: Financing Decarbonization Projects”, presenting opportunities, based on the PRR, for companies . Pedro Dominguinhos underlined that “living the last year with a deep energy crisis, which made the environmental transition even faster and a priority, especially in the business context. As companies have to make investment decisions, any delay means increased costs and less time available for decision-making and conversion initiation.”.
In a second moment of interventions, the emphasis was on the role of companies in the “New Paradigm of Production and Consumption: The Regeneration of Ecosystems”, with the intervention of Ricardo Zózimo, researcher and Assistant Professor, at NOVA School of Business and Economics. According to the researcher, although environmental issues are always closely associated with the Government and Non-Governmental Organizations, companies are also “part of the solution, not the problem”. Therefore, they must accelerate their process of transition to influence, “betting on processes that think like nature”, namely, rethinking water as a finite resource, treating waste as an economic accelerator, which can be a source of income and, also, reviving the sense of community.
Sustainability report
In the third part of the event, Marta Résio, Communications Manager at GS1 Portugal and Cláudia Coelho, Sustainability and Climate Change Partner at PWC Portugal, hosted a conversation on “Challenges and Best Practices in Sustainability Reporting”, highlighting the important role of Sustainability Reports Corporate sustainability, which are required by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) to a broader universe of companies, since January 2023.
GS1 Portugal presents its first Sustainability Report, which aims to “systematize the initiatives launched in environmental, social and governance matters by GS1 Portugal”, searching with this continuous improvement tool “inspire the associative mass, the GS1 community and the entire business community”, says the organization’s Communication manager. In addition, GS1 Portugal, as she added, also proposes “work with the business community and with GS1 Portugal associates, in order to understand what this legal obligation implies and demonstrate GS1 Portugal’s willingness to support”, he adds.
As Cláudia Coelho added, this new obligation of the CSRD brings several levels, such as the obligation of companies to prepare a sustainability report whenever two of these criteria are fulfilled: balance sheet superior to 20 million euros, turnover superior to 40 million euros and an average number of employees greater than 250, as well as having it audited.
Challenges of decarbonization
The event also includes a Debate Panel on “Sustainability Trends, Impact of Inflation and Decarbonization Challenges”, which focused on the execution of the PRR. Beatriz Varela Pinto, Manager of Climate Change & Sustainability Services at EY, reinforces that “the PRR is a central instrument for achieving the necessary climate transition and not only can, but must support access to finance by companies and thus achieve the objectives”.
Patrícia Franganito, Certification & Training Manager at Bureau Veritas, began her speech by pointing out that “hThere are several companies that have already achieved certain goals, not only in terms of the environment, of which the reduction of the carbon footprint is an example; but also in the social and governance domains of which gender equality standards are an example“. As he underlined, “the entire component of the digital transition, climate transition, efficiency, resilience and inclusion component, which needs to be put into practice” has registered significant advances.
According to Pedro Cruz, ESG Coordinator Partner at KPMG, when speaking about the PRR, there is a “greater difficulty on the part of smaller companies to have access to this type of incentives, even if the PRR is designed to support collaborative strategies, allowing larger and smaller companies to have access to programs that, as a student, they are unable to access”. The expert highlighted, however, the willingness of SMEs to take advantage of the PRR and other funds for their decarbonization strategy.
Lean&Green
The event ended with the award ceremony for the 3rd edition of the GS1 Portugal Lean&Green programme. Auchan Retail Portugal, Bel, Broliveira, Granfer, Lopes & Carvalho and SANTOSEVALE were recognized for implementing action plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% inherent to logistics and transport operations. The evidence was assessed by independent auditors.