Mandatory sustainability reporting will soon arrive

In January, the European Union adopted the "Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive" (CSRD). Quite a mouthful and that also sums up the content well. Because it is a comprehensive set of rules that requires companies, first large and later also small, to become (more) transparent about their sustainability efforts. A legislation, moreover, that is fast approaching. KTBA is therefore also expanding its services. "Because quality assurance and sustainability will be closely intertwined for food companies," predicts Jori Broens and Kelly Kohlen. Together with clients, they are looking at how to put that legislation into practice on the shop floor.

The CSRD requires companies to issue annual sustainability reports starting in 2025. This will initially apply to all listed companies that also meet two of the three criteria: more than 250 employees, more than 40 million in sales and more than 20 million on the balance sheet. The premise is to create transparency: companies must start communicating in a uniform way about their sustainability efforts. "A legislation that may be only in its infancy today. This summer, the specific standards, with exactly what such a report should look like, were published. But for those who want to comply with this legislation, time is running out. After all, you need data to thoroughly substantiate the report. Data you better start collecting today than tomorrow. SMEs too, because they too will be pulled into the bathtub in no time," Kohlen warns.

Build out own services

For KTBA, too, the arrival of the CSRD legislation means the signal to shift up a gear. Broens: "Our slogan 'Better Food, Better Health, Better World' shows that we have sustainability high on the agenda. The acquisitions of Blonk in the Netherlands, which focuses on life cycle assessments, and Sher Consulting in Israel, with its focus on the implementation of ISO standards, certainly fit into this framework. Over the past year, we have been working in various working groups to exchange the knowledge and experience already present within our company. Always starting from one central question: what does the customer actually need? And how can we as KTBA best support them?" Clients turned out to be particularly stuck with the question: 'How can we develop a sustainability management strategy and put it into practice?' 

More than just carbon footprint

 "That also proves that quality and sustainability will become closely intertwined," Kohlen believes. "They require the same structure and structure, but for quality managers it will be difficult to handle. There is a lot coming at them, in terms of volume and complexity. That's where we see a lot of added value as external consultants. That is why we have been honing our expertise in recent years. In a lot of food companies, you can feel the intrinsic motivation to want to do better. But how do you get started? The legislation goes much further than just calculating your carbon footprint. It also looks at diversity, at respecting labor and human rights, at energy performance of buildings, at anti-money laundering practices, ... Quite a big deal."

Process of continuous improvement

KTBA therefore works with its clients to look first and foremost at what the priorities are. "You can't tackle everything at once, and you don't have to," Broens knows. "Make choices, link concrete goals to them that set the bar high enough, and free up the people and resources for it. Then it's a matter of evaluating the efforts and backing them up with concrete data. And as with quality, the idea is to repeat this process and come to a continuous circle of improvement." For that data, by the way, food companies will have to look beyond their own company walls. They will need to request data throughout the supply chain: upstream and downstream. "Not an obvious one. It takes time to set up those systems, which is why we advise our customers to get started on them as soon as possible. KTBA already has several pilots running that show how it can be done," Broens and Kohlen conclude.