Sustainability is a topic that all companies now have to deal with: The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) adopted by the EU Parliament came into force at the beginning of 2023 and significantly changes the scope and nature of sustainability reporting by companies. The CSRD significantly expands existing rules on non-financial reporting.
Non-financial reporting will become mandatory and gradually every company will have to comply with this sustainability reporting obligation.
Some companies are already obliged to do so; successively, every organization and every company will be required to do so directly or indirectly – as part of supply and value chains. In addition, sustainability reports play a role in the granting of loans or in tenders, supplying companies must prove their sustainable business practices to their customers and many insurance companies also require them.
The organizational effort involved in sustainability reporting should not be underestimated. Many companies would like support here. Proven concept: knowledge transfer including exchange
Based on a workshop concept developed as part of the funded project “Sustainable supplier management in accordance with the Sustainability Code standard – a purchasing pool on the way to a sustainability report”, our academy has set up a series of training courses that enable participants to prepare a sustainability report in accordance with the Sustainability Code standard in online meetings and face-to-face workshops.
The German Sustainability Code (GSC) is easy to apply, has a clear structure and is linked to more comprehensive international standards. It therefore provides a very good basis for getting started with sustainability reporting.
The training series comprised online meetings such as a kick-off event and presentation of results, online jours fixes and four face-to-face workshops. These each dealt intensively with one of the four key topics of the Code: strategy, process management, environment and society. The first step was to provide basic and background knowledge on sustainability reporting and future EU standards. This was followed by a highly structured approach to the 20 Sustainability Code criteria and the associated
performance indicators. Practical examples and tips supplemented the technical knowledge.
The four workshops in person offered a wide range of opportunities for participants to exchange ideas on an equal footing. Fourth “Society” workshop at ERCO GmbH in Lüdenscheid
The last workshop in presence took place on January 23, 2024 at our member company ERCO GmbH in Lüdenscheid. The day at ERCO focused on the topic of “Society”. The company had some impressive moments in store for the participants to experience sustainability in its entirety.
After a brief welcome and introduction to the topic, the first item on the agenda was a tour of the plant. In two groups, the participants were given a very good insight into ERCO’s philosophy of thinking and communicating light in a new and different way.
The focus is on people and the balance of activity, architecture and atmosphere enables a holistic approach. This is also evident in the production process, where the high-quality ERCO products are manufactured.
With the exception of a few microtechnological components, ERCO products are completely “Made in Germany”. This goes hand in hand with very high quality standards and, at the same time, a low level of independence from supplier companies. Production and other buildings are light-filled. Line planning optimized through flexibility and the high degree of automation demonstrate that production is currently at the highest technical level. After the tour, ERCO provided two substantive inputs, each of which dealt with individual criteria from the “Society” topic area. Lina Sommer, Group Head of Development & Communication, reported on how ERCO uses its own HR mission statement for personnel development, which combines talent, training and culture management. Under DNK criterion 19 “Political influence”, Heiko Becker, Cluster Manager, presented how ERCO is involved in various national and international committees and is committed to promoting sustainable aspects. In the further course of the workshop, the remaining DNK criteria on the topic of society were discussed, some exercises on the topic were carried out and information on the final spurt of the qualification series was provided. Many thanks at this point to ERCO as host for our fourth workshop and to the ERCO team for the interesting guided tours, the inspiring content inputs and the break with delicious food in the canteen. Voices for this qualification series
During the fourth workshop, some participants agreed to share their experiences from the workshops with others.
They are the voices that make it clear why it is worth engaging more intensively with sustainability reporting in this form and what benefits can arise from it.
Many thanks for these assessments, which may also encourage other companies to embark on this journey.
You have taken part in our series of training courses on sustainability reporting in accordance with the Sustainability Code.
What did you like best? How does it help you in your company?
Nadine Egly – Head of Human Resources, LEUE & NILL GmbH + Co. KG:
“First of all, our sincere thanks go to NIRO for an extremely helpful and instructive series of training courses. In particular, the exchange of experiences with players from different industries and diverse backgrounds is incredibly valuable and also provides important input and practical examples that can be incorporated into our own Sustainability Code reporting and inspire further recommendations for action.
As a service-providing company, we are certainly facing other challenges, but we now feel comprehensively informed and have gained appropriate certainty regarding the requirements and content of non-financial reporting. We take the requirements for comprehensive sustainability reporting seriously and will therefore use the entire year 2024 to go into more detail on various aspects in order to be able to guarantee sustainable and future-oriented working and impact as well as cooperation for our group of companies in the long term – also and especially in regional and social terms.
We can only recommend the support provided by NIRO, Anke Trischler and her team and were able to take away valuable explanations, procedures and recommendations for action for our individual practice through this series of training courses and now implement them accordingly.”
Heiko Becker – Cluster Manager, ERCO GmbH:
“The training series on the German Sustainability Code (DNK) is an entertaining and content-rich event that, enriched with many practical examples, provides sound guidelines for the preparation of a standardized report. The speakers are knowledgeable and have practical experience and are therefore always able to provide helpful answers to questions from the operational context.
The mixture of online and face-to-face events reduces the footprint of the event and meets both the sustainability requirements and the operational availability of the participants.”
René Fischbach – Head of Quality Management and Management Systems, Härterei Reese Bochum GmbH:
“I found the NIRO training series on sustainability reporting to be extremely instructive and practical. The variety of participating companies from different industries broadened my horizons and showed different approaches and approaches to the implementation of a sustainability report. Thank you very much for this experience and the professional organization.”
Olga Sehner – Accounting, KODA Stanz- und Biegetechnik GmbH:
“The best thing was the practical examples that showed us participants how to approach this project. In the training series, we were given a kind of tool for each criterion, which made the start of the DNK report a little easier. Thank you very much for that.”
