Our expectations and what we look forward to in 2024

The start of 2024 marks an exciting year for sustainability legislation, both in the EU and globally, so let’s take a short look at some notable regulations. 🔮

1. CSRD: For companies already subject to the NFDR (Non-Financial Reporting Directive), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive replacing it will require reporting on the fiscal year 2024. Thus, data from 2024 needs to be ongoingly collected and reported on. However, adaptation of sector specific ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards made for specific industries and sectors) has been pushed to 2026.
2. CSDDD: Though the Corporate Sustainability Directive on Due Diligence is expected to come into effect in 2025 or 2026, more guidelines are expected to be published in 2024 so that companies subject to it can start preparing for the reporting. Complementary to the CSRD and the EU Taxonomy, more focus is given to evaluating value chains and making them sustainable.
3. New ISO standards on Circular Economy (5900, currently drafts under review) are expected in 2024. These will define many popular terms related to circularity, how circularity can be evaluated, and how businesses can transition to circular business models. In total, seven standards on circular economy are a part of this package.
4. The new EU regulation on batteries: batteries are important resources for which there is a growing demand, thus the legislation aims to regulate their sustainability performance, collection and recycling, second life uses, and waste handling. Though enforced in 2023, gradual introductions of benchmark standards (e.g., recycled content quotas, mandatory replaceability of portable batteries) will be carried out over the next few years.
5. ReFuelEU Aviation Initiative comes into effect with January 2024, requiring a larger share of sustainable aviation fuels to reduce aviation-related greenhouse gas emissions. It is a part of the ‘Fit for 55’ package.
6. EU laws on greenwashing are being developed to combat misleading or unsubstantiated claims related to the environmental performance of products and services in consumer communication. The provisional deal is being voted on in January.
7. SFDR: Some changes are expected to be made to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (applicable to banking and financial services) following the consultation period that was launched in September. This is done to assess the potential shortcomings since its introduction in 2021.