On March 29, 2022, KPMG and AmCham Germany hosted an Expert Webinar on “New Sustainability Reporting Requirements in the EU: How to Navigate the Challenges for U.S. Businesses in Germany.”
The recently issued draft EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will result in a significant increase in legal entities subject to mandatory environmental social governance (ESG) reporting and disclosure of non-financial key performance indicators (KPIs) beginning in 2023.
Three experts from KPMG apprised the audience of AmCham Germany members and other interested participants with CSRD and the various challenges for U.S. subsidiaries in terms of adopting these regulations.
Verena Brandt, Partner at KPMG Risk & Compliance Services, kicked off the webinar by providing an introduction to “new” sustainability reporting. She highlighted that 52 percent of U.S. CEOs surveyed see demand for increased reporting and transparency on ESG. She also provided a deep-dive on CSRD and TCFD.
Orhan Tezsoy, Partner at KPMG Accounting & Process Advisory, shared the regulatory requirements timeline, from NFRD, TCFD, Supply Chain Act to CSRD. He outlined how the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive will affect reporting in the near future and why do companies have to start now.
Björn Helfer, Senior Manager at KPMG Accounting & Process Advisory, shared his insights into EU taxonomy and shed light on U.S. regulations.
The speakers emphasized the following key takeaways for U.S. companies:
- CSRD will increase ESG reporting requirements compared to proposed SEC guidelines for U.S. based companies
- Strategic decisions on reporting level with high impact on subsequent decisions and activities need to be aligned with relevant stakeholders
- Materiality assessment and reporting contents need to be aligned with ESG strategy and relevant stakeholders
- Required data may not be available or do not have sufficient data quality needed for reporting
- Successful implementation requires involvement of a variety of stakeholders across functions leading to high coordination and explanation effort
- Starting now allows proactive management of unexpected topics instead of firefighting
They also encouraged companies to not only look at the new ESG reporting requirements as a burden but more as a chance to proactively disclose comparable ESG data and hence attract (new) investors.
KPMG is a global organization of independent professional services firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. KPMG firms operate in 145 countries and territories, collectively employed more than 236,000 people worldwide.
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Contact to speakers:
Verena Brandt, Partner, KPMG Risk & Compliance Services
Orhan Tezsoy, Partner, KPMG Accounting & Process Advisory
Björn Helfer, Senior Manager, KPMG Accounting & Process Advisory
