Corporate Sustainability as Obligation

As a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, society expects even greater sustainability measures on the part of large corporations. At the same time, the European Union is moving towards climate neutrality, as part of which it would introduce a special carbon border tariff and extend non-financial reporting obligations to smaller firms.

As Ákos Lukács, head of Deloitte's sustainability and climate change business pointed out at his 'Lean and Green' program launch workshop, these trends encourage large companies to re-evaluate their own approach to sustainability.

He added that the European Green Deal aims to make Europe the world's first climate-neutral continent. There is no longer a sector that does not face, at least indirectly, an increase in carbon prices (CAP), for example, in the pricing of energy products. The Union would impose a special border duty on products or services whose level of carbon production does not correspond to the continent's internal market equivalent. So, Europe has clearly moved in the direction of climate neutrality: the creation of the European Climate Bank or the development of an action plan for a new circular economy, among other things. At the same time as the coronavirus epidemic, these trends encourage large companies to re-evaluate their own approaches to sustainability.