Prof. Dr.-Ing. Markus Michael and Dr. Franziska Lehmann from texulting GmbH were invited to the lecture event on 10.04.2024. Prof. Michael began by introducing the company texulting, which he founded in 2016 to further develop the textile industry through innovation and sustainability.
Since 2020, texulting has been offering cross-industry services for around 100 customers and employs 16 people for this purpose. In Germany, around 15,000 companies will have to publish a sustainability report in the future (CSRD-Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive). From 2025, this obligation will also apply to large companies that are not capital market-oriented SMEs. And from 2026, non-capital-market-oriented SMEs in the EU will also have to report. At the beginning of April, the EU decided to suspend this process and postpone the reporting obligation from 2025 to 2027. The postponement of the reporting obligation was not welcomed in the industry, as many companies have already invested. Sustainability reporting is the process by which companies provide information about their environmental, social and economic performance, explained Prof. Michael. Banks, investors and customers will also increasingly evaluate non-reporting SMEs according to their sustainability performance. The economic environment is increasingly characterized by compliance with the CSR Directive and the European Taxonomy Regulation. The process of collecting data for the report forces companies to review and optimize their internal processes. The benefits of transparent sustainability reporting are manifold and extend across several levels of a company, such as improving decision-making, increasing competitiveness, access to capital or employee retention and recruitment. Dr. Lehmann then reported on some special projects with companies on sustainability reporting. The first step is always to consider all economic, ecological and social data. As part of the materiality analysis, a decision is then made as to which areas need to be reported on.
For example, a sustainability report was drawn up together with an automotive supplier that employs 80 people and manufactures highly specialized components. When collecting the data, it became clear that the energy consumption for manufacturing the components is very high and that there is potential to save resources here. The focus was therefore placed in particular on energy efficiency. According to the management of this company, addressing sustainability has changed the company both internally and externally. The company is now more strategic and forward-looking. Lehmann went on to explain that certification in accordance with the widely used DIN EN 9001 standard already provides a lot of data that can also be used for the sustainability report. Finally, Lehmann went on to discussCO2 balancing and also provided a practical example here. Using the example of a chemical company, the main costs were researched and measures were identified to reduce the high costs of chemical raw materials and packaging in particular.
