Tag: ecobiomanager

January 7, 2022

Voluntary information as part of Taxonomy-eligibility reporting

Last December, the EU’s Taxonomy Platform published considerations on voluntary information as part of Taxonomy-eligibility reporting, which gives supplementary guidance for disclosures.

In addition to mandatory reporting, voluntary reporting under the Taxonomy framework can enable non-financial companies and financial institutions to explain the eligibility proportion of their entire operations, investment profile, or balance sheet since it may include both Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) and non-NFRD companies, for example.

Voluntary disclosures should be made regarding the same scope and timeline as the financial and non-financial statements of the firm and in line with the reporting obligations. Voluntary reporting should be prepared on the basis that it does not contradict or misrepresent the mandatory information according to the disclosures delegated act, and it should not be given more prominence than the mandatory disclosures. Where an undertaking includes voluntary reporting, this should be accompanied with information on the basis used for its preparation and a clear explanation of how it differs from mandatory reporting.

Ecobio Manager – Our proposal for the first-period reporting

We provide a free trial account for Ecobio Manager’s Taxonomy classification and reporting tool for non-financial companies. By which, your team can disclose according to the first period’s requirements. The offering is valid until the end of March 2022. Its value is 3000 euros.

Act now! Please contact us and request your access to Ecobio Manager and book a demo presentation: sales@ecobiomanager.com.

Text: Sanna Perkiö

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/files/sustainable-finance-taxonomy-eligibility-reporting-voluntary-information_en

January 5, 2022

Define total turnover, Capital expenditure and Operating expenses, of the Taxonomy-eligible economic activities in non-financial companies

Last December, The European Council adopted the Delegated Act (2021/2178/EU) related to Taxonomy methodology and disclosure obligations for financial and non-financial companies.

In 2022, non-financial companies shall disclose only information of Taxonomy-eligible activities for the environmental objectives of climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation.

From 1 January 2022 until 31 December 2022, non-financial undertakings shall only disclose the proportion of Taxonomy-eligible and Taxonomy non-eligible economic activities in their

total turnover,
capital expenditures, and
operational expenditures.

In addition, non-financial undertakings need to provide relevant qualitative information associated with the eligibility proportions.

Ecobio has published a whitepaper that provides more implementation guidance on the EU Taxonomy classification and reporting for non-financial companies. Please find the latest whitepaper here.

Upcoming for non-financial companies

In Q1/2021, the European Union will adopt

Taxonomy classification criteria for nuclear power and natural gas, and
Technical Screening Criteria for remaining environmental objectives.

Ecobio Manager – Our proposal for the first-period reporting

Act now! Please contact us and request your access to Ecobio Manager and book a demo presentation: sales@ecobiomanager.com.

With best regards,

Ecobio’s Taxonomy team

Katrine Hoset

Senior Consultant, Account Manager, PhD.

Sanna Perkiö

Head of Innovations, D.Sc.

Malena Weuerlander

Key Account Manager

January 4, 2022

Ecobio Whitepaper: EU Taxonomy Classification and Reporting in 2022 – Five Steps for Compliance

Update:

EU Taxonomy classification and reporting in 2023 – Eight steps to compliance whitepaper available now

The new whitepaper aims to provide implementation guidance on EU Taxonomy Classification and Reporting requirements valid from 2023.

EU Taxonomy classification and reporting in 2023 – Eight steps to compliance whitepaper

This whitepaper aims to provide implementation guidance on EU Taxonomy Classification and Reporting requirements valid from 2023. The document deals with the actions needed by companies in the non-financial sector. Read the latest whitepaper to learn more about:

What is the EU Taxonomy Regulation?
Which companies are required to act now?
Eight steps for compliant EU Taxonomy classification and reporting from 2023

Click for more here.

In 2022, the Taxonomy classification and reporting requirements are limited. Non-financial undertakings are required to disclose the share of their turnover, capital, and operational expenditure associated with environmentally sustainable economic activities. Our new whitepaper contains the five steps for compliant EU Taxonomy classification and reporting in 2022.

The whitepaper provides implementation guidance on EU Taxonomy Classification and Reporting 2022. The document deals with the actions needed in non-financial undertakings. The five-step work pipeline in the whitepaper will help you fulfil the actual Taxonomy requirements in your entity.

2022 whitepaper covered the topics of:

What the EU’s Taxonomy Regulation implicates
How your company is affected by Eu taxonomy
What the current timeline for the Taxonomy looks like
Which requirements apply to your company
Five most important steps to meet the Taxonomy Requirements

This whitepaper is no longer available for download.

EU Taxonomy classification and reporting in 2022

The EU Taxonomy Regulation and related statutes direct investments toward sustainable economic activities. They formulate a robust and science-based framework for companies and investors that provides environmental criteria for determining which economic activities substantially contribute to the EU Green Deal objectives.

The EU Taxonomy Regulation (2020/852/EU) sets technical screening criteria to determine if an economic activity can be considered sustainable for six environmental objectives. Currently, the screening criteria are available for the two objectives: climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. The screening criteria for the remaining objectives will be published in spring 2022.

Read more about our EU Taxonomy digital solution here and our sustainable finance consultancy services here.

December 10, 2021

Webinar 27.1: EU Taxonomy Reporting in 2022 – What are the obligations and how to use digitalization in reporting?

Join our EU Taxonomy webinar on the 27th of January!

In our webinar, Ecobio’s EU taxonomy experts will briefly review the current environmental classification and reporting obligations of the EU Taxonomy for large companies and entities regarding 2022 reporting. The webinar focuses on the requirements of large listed companies and non-financial entities.

Why is EU taxonomy reporting timely?

The EU Taxonomy Regulation requires large organizations to assess and report annually the financial impact of environmentally classified activities. In the spring of 2022, large listed companies and other non-profit organizations will report for the first time in accordance with the regulation.

The EU Commission has created a complex system that makes it easy for companies to get lost without expert help and a systematic way of working. Our webinar presents the steps of first-year taxonomy reporting and introduces an easy and comprehensive digital solution to meet the complex requirements. The taxonomy requirements will expand next spring, making it profitable to take advantage of the efficiency offered by digitalization. As an added benefit, we offer a free trial use of Ecobio Manager for taxonomy-obliged participants for a limited time.

Webinar agenda

Our taxonomy experts will answer the following questions in the webinar:

What are the benefits of the EU taxonomy regulation?
Which entities will be affected by the EU taxonomy in 2022, and what are the obligations?
How are economic activities identified, and how do you perform an eligibility assessment?
What key performance indicators should be reported and how?
What else is required for financial reporting?
How will the EU taxonomy develop in 2023 and the future?
How can digitalization help with environmental classification and reporting?

During the event, it is possible to ask questions of our experts in the chat.

To whom?

The webinar is aimed at financial and sustainability reporting officers of listed companies and other public interest entities, financial- and sustainability experts and those in charge of EU Green Bonds.

What are the additional benefits for the webinar participants?

We offer your company a free trial (worth 3 000 €) to our digital taxonomy solution, Ecobio Manager, until the end of March 2022. During the trial, you can conveniently use digitalization to classify and report your data according to the first year’s requirements. The offer is intended for participants with taxonomy obligations.

We give you the opportunity to take advantage of the added benefit even before the webinar. Contact us by email at sales@ecobiomanager.com, and we will open the service for your company.

When?

The free webinar in English will be held on Thursday, January 27, 2022, from 11:00 to 11:40 (UTC+2)!

In case you are interested in the topic but would prefer to listen to the webinar in Finnish you can register for the Finnish webinar (27.1.2022 at 10.00-10.40) here.

Welcome to listen and ask about the current EU environmental classification!

Read more about Ecobio here and Ecobio Manager here.

December 9, 2021

The Climate Delegated Act to the EU Taxonomy Approved and Ready to Be Applied

The delegated act on the climate part of the EU regulation (2020/852) on taxonomy – the first delegated act presented by the European Commission – was approved by the majority of the Member States. The delegated act specifies the technical screening criteria for environmental objectives of climate change mitigation and climate change adaption – two of six environmental objectives included in the EU Taxonomy. The Official Journal has published the decision on Thursday, the 9th December 2021.

This approval means that the large public-interest companies with more than 500 employees can accelerate their preparations to disclose this year’s taxonomy eligible economic activities as defined in the climate delegated act.

Before the end of the year, the Commission will present a complementary delegated act concerning the inclusion of fossil gas and nuclear in the taxonomy. No official date has yet been set.

Would you like to have more information about EU Taxonomy?

Please subscribe to Ecobio’s EU Taxonomy News here and book a presentation for Ecobio Manager’s digital taxonomy tool here.

Text: Sanna Perkiö & Katrine Hoset

Picture: Shutterstock

Source: European Parliament, 9.12.2021

October 11, 2021

Join our presentation of the world’s first comprehensive digital solution for the EU Taxonomy!

Do you need help with EU Taxonomy classification and reporting? Join our presentation of the world’s first comprehensive digital solution for the EU Taxonomy!

Join us for a free 30 min presentation and we will show how the new section in our digital solution, Ecobio Manager, will help you to turn the complex set of EU Taxonomy requirements into a smooth and straightforward work process for your team.

With the requirements for the EU Taxonomy soon coming into effect, it is beneficial to have an innovative, efficient, and in-depth solution at hand, to get the process toward compliance started.

Join our presentation to learn:

How you can benefit from digitalization during classification and reporting
How our easy-to-use and comprehensive digital solution works
How to create a smooth and straightforward work process for your taxonomy team

During the event, you are also able to ask questions from our experts. Please register using your business email address.

The free online presentations are held on Wednesdays at 13.00-13.30 (UTC+2). You can find the presentation dates and register here.

You are warmly welcome!

Are you unsure whether you are in or out of the EU Taxonomy classification and reporting requirements?

Take our EU taxonomy quiz and determine whether your company is affected by the EU Taxonomy regulation. Take the quiz here.

Our recorded webinars can be found on our homepage

In our webinar library, you can find our recorded webinars that you can watch whenever you find most suitable for you! You can find our webinar library here.

September 29, 2021

Ecobio launched the world’s first comprehensive digital solution to comply with the EU Taxonomy Regulation

The Ecobio team at the launch event 29.9. From left: Taru Halla, Emma Björkqvist, Katrine Hoset, Sanna Perkiö & Evelina Meski

The EU environmental classification legislation for sustainable finance, in short, EU Taxonomy Regulation, is a large-scale, regulatory-based framework that requires companies to define environmentally sustainable economic activities. The regulation is an EU tool to steer the economy towards sustainable development. Companies will have to meet the requirements gradually from the beginning of 2022.

The EU Taxonomy Regulation obliges large, listed companies and companies operating in the financial markets to classify, assess and disclose their economic activities in accordance with sustainable development criteria. In the future, the Taxonomy Regulation will apply to a broader range of business entities.

Companies are now preparing to comply with the requirements of the EU Taxonomy Regulation. To date, little assistance has been available for companies to assess the conformity of a large-scale classification system and to report data.

Ecobio Manager aims to solve the EU Taxonomy challenge of over ten thousand companies

Today, Wednesday, September 29, 2021, Ecobio announced the world’s first comprehensive and easy-to-use digital solution to meet the requirements of the EU Taxonomy Regulation. The solution is implemented as part of the Ecobio Manager SaaS service. Ecobio Manager is an environmental compliance tool for business operations, products, and subcontractors as a cloud service.

– Ecobio Manager is the world’s first comprehensive taxonomy solution including a smooth classification process and up-to-date legal databases, as well as an environmental risk assessment protocol. So far, there has been no service with similar coverage in the global market, said Sanna Perkiö, D.Sc., founder, and the Head of Development of Ecobio.

The EU Commission has created a complex system, which may result in companies getting lost in the requirement jungle without expert help and a systematic way of working.

– We offer over ten thousand companies in the EU an easy and competent digital solution to meet the requirements of EU Taxonomy. Feedback from listed companies and the financial industry has been both enthusiastic and relieved.

From the beginning, companies should take advantage of the efficiency offered by digitalization, Perkiö suggested.

– The first requirements of the taxonomy must be reported as early as next spring. We expect wide interest and customers from all over Europe.

Read more about our digital solution for EU taxonomy here.

August 25, 2021

Biocides in the European Union

Download our comprehensive whitepaper about biocides in the European Union here!

It might not always be so obvious, but biocides belong closely to our everyday lives. They are products we use regularly, for example disinfectants, preservatives, insecticides, rodenticides, or repellents which kill, deactivate, render harmless or prevent the action of harmful organisms. Right now, the Covid-19 pandemic is still bothering the mankind making the biocides even more important to us than ever before – each one of us has used hand sanitisers and other disinfectants during this time.

Biocides are important products, and we need them in our lives in various occasions. Biocides are regulated in the European Union (EU) by Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 on Concerning the Making Available on the Market and Use of Biocidal Products, often called simply Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR). The EU BPR regulation requires many elements and aspects to consider and fulfill in order for the biocidal products to be complaint with the EU-legislation and allowed to be sold and used on the EU-markets. In addition, different national regulatory practices apply making the fulfillment of all the requirements even more time consuming and tedious.

Reach and maintain compliance with the EU Biocide Product Regulation

Our whitepaper gives an overview of the European Union Biocide Product Regulation (BPR), the regulatory approval process of the biocidal active substances, and particularly of the authorisation process of the biocidal products in the European Union (EU).

Do you want to know what the European Union Biocide Product Regulation (BPR) is? Are you curious about how the regulatory approval process of the biocidal active substances work and how the authorisation process of the biocidal products in the European Union work? These are just some of the questions our whitepaper answers as well as presenting how to run your biocide business smoothly.

Download our whitepaper here.

Ecobio helps you make your biocide business run smoothly

Ecobio can provide you with valuable information on biocides as our consultants have a high knowledge of the BPR legislation and the regulatory practices of the biocides both at the national and the EU levels. We can guide you through the entire biocide authorisation process and assist you to make your biocide business to run smoothly. We are at your disposal and wait for you to tell us more about your biocidal products or biocidal active substances, your circumstances, and needs.

Read more about our services regarding biocides here.

Get in touch with us! We are very pleased to help you.

Anne Kallioinen

Senior Consultant

anne.kallioinen@ecobio.fi

Tel.: +358 20 756 2303

Picture: Shutterstock

July 12, 2021

Eight new hazardous chemicals added to the SVHC Candidate List

ECHA has added eight new entries to the Candidate List of substances of very high concern on 8 July 2021. Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) may have serious and often irreversible effects on human health and the environment. There are currently 219 substances on the SVHC Candidate List.

Newly added substances are used in consumer products such as cosmetics, scented articles, rubber, textiles, solvents, flame retardants or to manufacture plastic products. Most of the substance have been added to the list due to their hazardous properties to human health.

Hazardous chemicals added to the Candidate List

Obligations related to SVHC

Companies have legal obligations if a substance included in the Candidate List is present in a concentration above 0.1% w/w. Obligations include:

Providing Safety Data Sheets for substances on their own and substances in mixtures containing SVHCs
Requirement to notify ECHA under REACH if an article contains a SVHC
Requirement to inform customers and consumers under REACH if an article contains a SVHC to allow safe use of the article
Requirement to notify ECHA under the Waste Framework Directive (SCIP Database) about articles containing SVHCs

Companies that are importing, producing, selling or using substances, their mixtures or articles (components, materials) containing SVHCs should keep an eye on the substances added to the Candidate List. Substances are regularly being added to the list. It is also recommended for companies to start looking for substitutes for the added substances already. Substances on the Candidate List may also be placed on the Authorization List in the future, which means that continuing the use would need a permission.

Do you need help with chemical management?

Our experienced chemical consultants will assist you in meeting your chemical requirements. Furthermore, our Ecobio Manager SaaS-service will help you manage your chemicals and ensure compliance with global regulations. You can watch our webinar “Chemical Management and Risk Assessment Obligations” here. You can find all of our webinars here.

Interested? Contact us today!

Contact: info@ecobio.fi

Text: Mikael Hirn

Picture: Shutterstock

References:

ECHA: Candidate List updated with eight hazardous chemicals.

TUKES: Erityistä huolta aiheuttavat aineet (SVHC).

June 8, 2021

The EU Taxonomy and KPIs

The European Commission has published a draft version of a Delegated Act to supplement article 8 in the Taxonomy Regulation (EU) 2020/852. This supplementation specifies the content and presentation of the information concerning environmentally sustainable economic activities and specifies the methodology to comply with that disclosure obligation.

EU strives to channel capital towards sustainable investment

One of the key objectives of the European Commission’s action plan on financing sustainable growth is to reorient capital flows towards sustainable investment and ensure market transparency. To achieve this, EU Taxonomy (EU 2020/852) was created, a classification system for sustainable activities. The EU Taxonomy is a robust and science-based tool for companies and investors that provides criteria for determining which economic activities substantially contribute to the Green Deal objectives.

EU Taxonomy KPIs to help understand companies’ sustainability

The drafted Delegated Act further specifies the content, methodology, and presentation of the information in the Taxonomy Regulation. The Delegated Act allows companies to translate the technical screening criteria of the Climate Delegated Act (and in the future Environmental Delegated Act) into quantitative economic performance indicators, KPIs, which will be publicly disclosed. This helps investors and the public to better understand the companies’ impact towards sustainability trough the annual publication of their KPIs. This will increase transparency on the market and help prevent greenwashing.

The Taxonomy Regulation and the published Delegated act complement the NFRD (Non-Financial Reporting-Directive) and SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation) by providing a common reference point for reporting the degree of alignment with sustainable activities.

Market fields receive separate instructions for reporting

The Taxonomy-related disclosures will create an entire ecosystem of sustainable finance tools, including standards, labels, and access to a coherent and relevant set of sustainability data. These on the other hand are necessary to channel capital towards the investments needed to reach the EU’s sustainability goals.

The Delegated Act includes separate instructions for different market fields regarding sustainable reporting with KPIs. These fields are non-financial undertakings, asset managers, credit institutions, investment firms, and insurance and reinsurance undertakings.

The drafted delegated act was open for feedback until 2 June. A lot of the feedback highlights the need to simplify and clarify the KPIs that should be reported, inconsistencies between reporting deadlines and availability of data, and a potential need for a longer transition period before reporting starts. Commentaries have also commented on the need to better align the reporting scope and application timelines in this delegated act with the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the proposed amendment of the NFRD).

The challenge of reaching compliance with the Taxonomy Regulation

Many of the respondents that commented on the Commission’s publishment mentioned the challenge of collecting Taxonomy compliance data within companies and assigning this data to specific business lines. Ecobio’s sustainability experts familiar with the Taxonomy requirements and experts in EHS requirements will help your company meet the expectations of the Taxonomy Regulation. Ecobio’s sustainable finance services helps you to identify your sustainable economic activities and report your alignment with the Taxonomy. Read more about our services regarding Sustainable Finance here!

With our Ecobio Manager legislation compliance tool, companies can assess compliance with the do-no-significant-harm requirements and minimum safeguards as well as follow up on relevant legislation development. Read more about Ecobio Manager here!

Do you want to hear more? Kindly contact us:

Katrine Hoset

Account Manager, Senior Consultant

katrine.hoset@ecobio.fi

+358 (0)20 756 2306

EU Taxonomy classification and reporting in 2023 – Eight steps to compliance – whitepaper

What is the EU Taxonomy Regulation?
Which companies are required to act now?
Eight steps for compliant EU Taxonomy classification and reporting from 2023

You can download our whitepaper here!

Text: Emma Björkqvist

Picture: Shutterstock