Webfleet offering assistance with CSRD compliance

Although the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) does not directly affect UK firms, stock-listed companies with EU subsidiaries and more than 500 employees must record CO2 emissions from this year for 2025 reporting. The CSRD will trawl its net further each year until, by 2027, the requirement to record CO2 data will apply to all UK companies with a non-EU parent and more than €135 million in EU turnover. Bridgestone Mobility Solutions says its Webfleet solution can help fleets impacted the CSRD, as well as those adhering to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework.

New for 2024, the CSRD requires companies to report on risks and opportunities arising from social and environmental issues – such as climate change – and on how their activities impact people and the environment. Amidst escalating concerns surrounding environmental sustainability, the CSRD represents a substantial advancement from its precursor, the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD).

While the NFRD obligated listed companies with over 500 employees to incorporate non-financial statements into their annual public reports, the CSRD widens the scope of the legislation and mandates which companies need to report sustainability-related information and when. To illustrate the impact of the change, while 11,000 companies were in scope for mandatory reporting under NFRD, an estimated 50,000 companies are in scope under the new CSRD.

Get your house in order

The EU is rolling out the CSRD in four stages between 2024 and 2027, prompting Frans de Rooij, Bridgestone’s director product portfolio – Webfleet Europe, to comment that businesses may think they have time to get their houses in order. “But I’m afraid this assumption could prove to be false.” De Rooij elaborates that under the CSRD, an organisation is also required to report on its Scope 3 emissions – those that happen indirectly throughout its value chain, such as emissions from suppliers’ vehicles.

“So even if a business is not obliged by CSRD to report on its own fleet’s carbon footprint, it might have larger customers that do need to report to stay compliant,” says de Rooij. “Those larger customers are then highly likely to request information on the CO₂ emissions produced by their suppliers. In this environment, businesses with the ability to accurately provide data on their CO₂ emissions may gain a competitive advantage.”

All this means that corporate sustainability reporting in Europe is no longer the sole preserve of the big players. Any fleet that the CSRD will impact needs to act.

TÜV-certified methodology

“This is where Webfleet, Bridgestone’s globally trusted fleet management solution, can help,” says de Rooij. The Webfleet CO2 Report provides managers with an accurate overview of their fleet’s direct CO2 emissions. Using a methodology that’s certified by TÜV Rheinland, it provides detailed information on how much CO2 fleet vehicles produce. As well as helping to meet the demands of regulations such as CSRD, it offers insights into how, where and why your fleet is producing unnecessary CO2.

But Frans de Rooij points out that there is “much more” to decarbonisation than just reporting and compliance, adding that Webfleet’s data-driven mobility solutions empower users to take a “holistic approach to reducing their fleet’s carbon footprint.” From advising fleets on electrification to optimising energy consumption and smart charging, cutting out driving habits that waste fuel, maintaining tyres at the right pressure, keeping drivers on the best routes and beyond, Webfleet serves as a “partner for businesses that want to take real action to run more sustainably.”

Data is key

According to de Rooij, data is the key to shrinking the carbon footprint. Only with accurate, actionable data insights into CO2 emissions can businesses know they are doing the right things to reduce them, and the product portfolio director emphasises that the easiest way to gain such insights is to connect vehicles with a “leading telematics solution” such as Webfleet.

“We sum it up in three steps: Connect, Measure, Reduce. That’s how you can not only reach your environmental goals but also drive business efficiency and profitability at the same time,” de Rooij concludes.