Munich/Kassel/Darmstadt. The ESG regulation specialists from Envoria, the FinTech company fino and the technology and outsourcing service provider PPA Technologies GmbH (PPA) are pooling their core competencies in the jointly founded openESG GmbH. The aim of the new company is to support financial service providers in implementing ESG regulations as a result of the European Green Deal and to relieve large companies of the burden of assessing their supply chains. For this purpose, openESG provides a central, open data hub for the collection, management and enrichment of relevant data.
With the Green Deal, the European Union has launched a wide range of regulations and rules to support the defined climate targets of the EU and to prevent greenwashing. What was treated as a secondary issue under the heading of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the past has been tightened up considerably with the published ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) regulations. For German and European businesses, this results in comprehensive reporting and disclosure obligations that must be met from the reporting year 2023.
The first stage is the EU Taxonomy Regulation, which has been in force since the 2021 reporting year and requires the disclosure of what proportion of a company's sales, investments and operating expenses are sustainable. As the first stage, which is comparatively easy to implement, this applies to capital market-oriented companies with more than 500 employees – in figures: 550 companies in Germany and 11,700 in Europe.
From the reporting year 2023, the next stage of ESG regulations will follow: the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). It will apply to companies with 250 or more employees, affecting around 15,000 companies in Germany and over 50,000 in Europe already. The EU's recently published proposal includes more than 300 key figures that every company must record and disclose, which is a significant increase in reporting obligations. In addition, when the German Supply Chain Sourcing Obligations Act (LkSG) comes into force, large companies with more than 3,000 employees will have to record ESG metrics for their entire supply chain from January 2023. Financial companies, such as banks and savings banks, asset managers, insurance and reinsurance companies, are equally affected and must report the sustainably financed business volume as a proportion of the total business volume. This so-called green asset ratio is only the first stage of disclosure requirements, which will be followed by others in the coming years.
In summary, the adopted and planned ESG regulations will lead to considerable additional expense. This applies not only to directly affected larger companies but also to a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) via supply and financing relationships. In practice, this means that SMEs have to provide different ESG information for almost all of their business and financing relationships, even though they are not directly affected by the regulations.
Central data hub to avoid additional bureaucracy
"In order to reduce this additional work for all parties concerned, it was necessary to create an open, independent data hub that would map the complex process of data collection in a legally secure and comprehensible way," says Michael Sindram, Managing Director of fino ventures GmbH. "This was exactly the motivation for the foundation of openESG. Instead of time-consuming, multiple data collection in different forms, openESG simplifies and combines the provision and use of data with comprehensive data protection and approval processes."
As an open, independent data hub, the legally compliant and audit-proof process is available to all parties involved. Users are guided through each step of the data collection process with clear explanations. The required familiarization with the complex subject matter is significantly reduced.
The know-how for meeting the various requirements stems from the ESG specialists at Envoria. Their software solution, which is certified by the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) and has been tried and tested in both SMEs and large corporations, can be flexibly adapted to specific requirements. Furthermore, it subjects all data entries to comprehensive logic checks. The effort required is also drastically reduced for companies that are affected as borrowers from banks or as part of the supply chain of large corporations. Required environmental, social, and governance data only needs to be provided once through aligned questionnaires and can then be shared with any number of stakeholders. "It should be emphasized that the data hub operates openly and independently. SMEs remain owners of their sensitive data and can decide on a case-by-case basis which information they disclose to which addressees," emphasizes Heimo Saubach, Managing Director and shareholder of PPA Technologies GmbH.
Sven Schubert, CEO and co-founder of Envoria, adds: "There is still considerable uncertainty among banks and large companies with regard to compliance with the new requirements. With 20 ESG experts, many of them with an auditing background, we are adapting content and processes to the evolving regulatory environment. We ensure that every questionnaire in the openESG hub complies with the legal requirements. This means that, in addition to the parties directly affected, SMEs and their tax advisors in particular benefit, as they can access tried-and-tested tools and use them in a targeted manner with their expertise. By collecting the required data only once and using our digital assistance, we expect a reduction in effort for companies of up to 80%."
Further information about openESG: www.openESG.de
About Envoria (Financial Software Architects GmbH):
Since 2018, Munich-based Financial Software Architects GmbH has been supporting companies in meeting disclosure requirements around new sustainability standards under the EU Green Deal. Envoria offers an all-in-one software that maps standard frameworks (GRI, ESRS, SASB, DNK, EMAS), enables CO2 emissions calculations (Scope 1, 2 and 3) and implements the regulatory requirements of EU Taxonomy calculations.
DAX-listed companies as well as well-known corporations in the European Union have opted for Envoria. Envoria has established close partnerships with audit firms and consultancies to ensure that regulatory changes and new audit requirements lead to immediate implementation in the software.
Further information: www.envoria.com
Your editorial contact:
Envoria (Financial Software Architects GmbH)
Sven Schubert
Tel: +49 89 9974 0901 0
E-Mail: sven.schubert@envoria.com
www.envoria.com
About fino ventures GmbH:
The fintech company fino was founded in Kassel in 2015 and is a provider of innovative B2B SaaS business models. fino develops solutions that inspire people and sets standards through digital and data-based business models in the areas of bank account mining (FinTech), invoice management, document analysis (DocTech), KYC/money laundering (RegTech) and property tax (TaxTech). Through fino ventures, fino is continuously expanding its data ecosystem through strategic investments and provides entrepreneurial support to young startups as a mentor, business angel or impulse provider on all topics related to founding, business model and scaling.
Further information: www.fino.group and www.fino.ventures
Your editorial contacts:
fino ventures GmbH
Michael Sindram
Mobile: +49 173 4038202
E-Mail: Michael@fino.group
https://fino.ventures/
good news! GmbH
Nicole Gauger
Telefon: +49 451 88199-12
Mobile: +49 172 4500753
E-Mail: nicole@goodnews.de
www.goodnews.de
About PPA Technologies GmbH:
The PPA Group, founded in 2000, is the market-leading service provider for the digitalization of financial information for the financial industry. The two national companies PPA Ges. für Finanzanalyse und Benchmarks mbH in Darmstadt/Germany and Glattbrugg/Switzerland perform automatic data recognition, data extraction and customer-specific data preparation in a classic outsourcing service. They are closely integrated with their systems and processes into the corporate finance processes at banks. This competence is currently being extended to include the processing of non-financial information (ESG). PPA employs approx. 150 people at both locations and currently processes approx. 300,000 analysis-relevant documents per year. PPA works across sectors for private banks, public and cooperative institutions and meets all regulatory requirements for the outsourcing of business processes by banks in Germany and Switzerland.
Further information: www.ppaworld.com
Your editorial contact:
PPA Gesellschaft für Finanzanalyse und Benchmarks mbH
Heimo Saubach
Tel: +49 6151 7804 593
E-Mail: heimo.saubach@ppaworld.com
www.ppaworld.com