For service-oriented companies, mobility accounts for up to 50% of operational CO2 emissions. The European Union's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive will make it mandatory for the first large companies to record these mobility emissions from this financial year 2024. NAVIT, in cooperation with Project Climate, explained what this means for corporate mobility and how companies can best respond to it in a live webinar on Friday, 17 May 2024. The most important insights from the webinar are summarised here.
Live webinar ‘Corporate mobility fit for CSRD: tips & strategies’ with
Did you miss the webinar? We have summarised the most important takeaways for you.
The EU has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, or CSRD for short, is intended to be a fundamental mechanism for achieving this. After all, companies have a special responsibility when it comes to climate protection and this should be reflected in the CSRD.
The CSRD has been in force since 5 January 2023 and requires organisations in the EU and, in future, outside the EU to disclose the impact of their business activities on the environment and society and vice versa (so-called double materiality).
The CSRD stipulates that from 2025, EU-listed companies must prepare a sustainability report on their own greenhouse gas emissions balance for the previous financial year. From 2026, this regulation will also apply to non-listed companies if they fulfil two out of three of the following criteria: more than 250 employees, a balance sheet total of more than 20 million euros or net sales of more than 40 million euros. Listed SMEs will follow one year later. This means that 50,000 companies in the EU and 15,000 in Germany will be obliged to publish a sustainability report.
The CSRD aims to increase accountability on the one hand and introduce binding reporting standards at EU level on the other. This should improve the quality, transparency and consistency of sustainability data and ensure a better understanding and comparability of the ESG impact of organisations. Last but not least, this should channel capital into sustainable projects and thus contribute to achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal.
In principle, all areas of a company's mobility are covered by the CSRD. This means that companies must record and report the emissions from their vehicle fleet, business trips and commuting to and from work.
This means for companies: They must start recording greenhouse gas emissions from their vehicle fleet (Scope 1 according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol: direct emissions from the company). Emissions from employee commuting and business travel must also be recorded in Scope 3 of the GHG Protocol (indirect emissions).
When the CSRD comes into force, companies will have to face two challenges with regard to mobility:
However, many companies have so far found it difficult to record these emissions and reduce them in line with climate targets. While the data situation is usually good for vehicle fleets (mileage, fuel consumption) or business trips (booking data), data on the mobility behaviour of employees is often not available.
Data on employee mobility is scarce, as companies have no insight into their employees' personal mobility decisions for good reason. Collecting data through employee surveys can be time-consuming and only provides snapshots. The introduction of a mobility budget can be an effective solution here.
Through app-based use, all journeys made with the mobility budget, i.e. public transport tickets, car sharing, e-scooters, taxis, etc., can be automatically recorded. The emissions data for the individual journeys can be calculated via interfaces to the CO2 calculation solution and forwarded to the company's reporting system. The fact that the companies receive the mobility and emissions data in anonymised and aggregated form is relevant under data protection law.
The lack of data on employee mobility also means that companies find it difficult to formulate a sustainable mobility strategy as well as solid and realistic reduction targets.
When companies receive data on the utilisation of the mobility budget, it is easier for them to formulate the right strategy and the right targets. An accompanying analysis of the status quo of employee mobility supports the targeted development of measures.
A mobility budget gives companies the opportunity to create a holistic and flexible offering to incentivise the use of sustainable mobility and promote alternatives to company cars.
In practice, it has been shown that companies use mobility budgets in a variety of different ways. In addition to being used as a classic benefit, companies use the mobility budget primarily as an alternative to the company car in order to reduce costs and CO2 emissions from the company fleet. In many cases, the company car is not abolished immediately, but the mobility budget is offered as an alternative solution. Employees are given the option of either switching from the company car to the mobility budget or opting for a smaller (and more sustainable) vehicle, with the difference in the leasing instalment being made available to them as a mobility budget.
It is also possible to implement company bike leasing concepts in order to promote not only sustainability but also employee health, or to pass on the Deutschlandticket to the workforce. Last but not least, the mobility budget can also provide incentives to electrify the vehicle fleet (for example by offering charging cards or e-cars on subscription or car sharing) or lead to an increase in vehicle utilisation.
For companies, tax issues usually also play a major role when considering the mobility budget. Existing tax incentives can make it easier for companies to introduce a mobility budget for employees.
In addition to the use of benefits in kind, companies have the option of using flat-rate taxation, which makes the mobility budget more attractive than individual gross taxation. Companies can also incentivise the use of public transport, as this is exempt from tax. Company bike leasing also enjoys tax advantages. The mobility budget tax planned for 2025 will bring a new dynamic: it is intended to harmonise the tax privileges of other modes of transport, such as company cars.
Figures already show that we are experiencing a rethink in mobility. In the ‘Smart Mobility’ study conducted by the digital association Bitkom, 96% of respondents stated that they had fundamentally changed their mobility behaviour in recent years. People are getting on their bikes or replacing their own car with car sharing. Many people are also open to the idea of digital services: Half of Germans (51%) already use mobility apps to get around flexibly and as quickly as possible.
Last but not least, the topic of sustainability is also becoming relevant on the labour market in times of a shortage of skilled workers: For the vast majority of young talent aged between 20 and 29, the sustainability of a potential employer is an important criterion, according to the results of the European Investment Bank's (EIB) annual climate survey. Almost one in five of this age group said that this aspect was a top priority when deciding in favour of a company.
If you want to impress employees and applicants, you need a new and modern mobility concept.
