Between economic recovery and the European Green Deal Pathways for corporate sustainability management BETWEEN ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL Legal Notice Published by The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) Division G I 4, Environment and Economy, Sustainable Corporate Governance 11055 Berlin Email: [email protected] · Internet: www.bmu.de Editors The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU): Division G I 4, Environment and Economy, Sustainable Corporate Governance: Annette Schmidt- Räntsch, Sascha Klapproth adelphi consult GmbH: Daniel Weiß Office of the German EMAS Advisory Board (UGA): Frank Kermann European Commission, Directorate-General Environment: Friederike Detry Text and content Daniel Weiß (adelphi), Frank Kermann (UGA) pertext, Berlin As at December 2020 Download www.bmu.de, search EMAS; www.emas.de/25 (conference short film) Table of contents Programme for the virtual conference on 29 September 2020 4 Introduction 7 Conference outcomes 8 → Florian Pronold, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety 8 → Keynote by Kęstutis Sadauskas, Director of Circular Economy and Green Growth of the Directorate-General Environment of the European Commission 10 → Panel: Potential and challenges of sustainable business practices as drivers for overcoming current crises and transforming the economy 12 → Panel: Climate management and climate neutrality – Companies between ambition and reality 16 → Panel: Strengthening sustainable supply chains with due diligence in environmental and human rights 20 → Panel: Requirements for crisis-proof sustainability management 24 → Summary of the outcomes from the point of view of the Federal Environment Ministry and the European Commission 27 German EMAS Advisory Board workshops on environmental management 28 → Background 29 → Workshop: (Food) retail – Leader or straggler in climate action and environmental protection? 30 → Workshop: Identifying and managing climate risks in enterprises 34 Recognition of long-term EMAS participants and leaders 38 → Selection and commendation 38 → List of organisations 40 Social media campaign #ecoflagship #EMAS 50 List of abbreviations 54 3 BETWEEN ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL Programme for the virtual conference on 29 September 2020 Moderator: Dr Tanja Busse Professor Tom Krebs Professor of Macroeconomics and Economic 9:30 – 9:45 am Policy, University of Mannheim Welcome Bernhard Schwager Florian Pronold Board Member, German Environmental Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Management Association (B.A.U.M.) e. V.; CEO Ministry for the Environment, Nature OmniCert Consulting Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) Gabriele Wende Director Responsibility, UPM-Kymmene 9:45 – 10:00 am Corporation Keynote Kęstutis Sadauskas 11:15 – 11:30 am Director of the Directorate for Circular Coffee break Economy and Green Growth (ENV.B) of the Directorate-General Environment of the European Commission 11:30 am – 12:30 pm Climate management and climate neu- trality – Companies between ambition 10:00 – 11:15 am and reality Potentials and challenges of sustainable business practices as drivers for overco- Hilke Patzwall ming the current crisis and transforming Senior Manager Sustainability and CSR, the economy VAUDE Nadine-Lan Hönighaus Christoph Zeiss Executive Director, econsense – Forum for Senior Researcher on Future Energy and Sustainable Development of German Industry Systems, Wuppertal Institute Business e. V. 4 Programme for the virtual Christoph Töpfer 2:45 – 3:15 pm Policy and Research Officer, section I 1.4 Coffee break economic and social environmental issues, conference on 29 September 2020 sustainable consumption, Federal Environment Agency (UBA) 3:15 – 4:15 pm Requirements for crisis-proof sustainabi- Michael Hub lity management Environmental Verifier, ValueCert Hub & Partner mbB Yvonne Zwick Head of the Sustainability Code Office (DNK), German Council for Sustainable Development 12:30 – 1:30 pm (RNE) Lunch break Professor Frank Ebinger Research Professorship for Sustainable 1:30 – 2:45 pm Innovation and Transformation Management, Strengthening sustainable supply chains Nuremberg Tech with due diligence in environmental and human rights Monika Brom Deputy Team Leader, Sustainable Delara Burkhardt Development, Environment Agency Austria Member of the European Parliament, the Committee on the Environment and the S&D Dr Ralf Utermöhlen Parliamentary Group in the European Environmental Verifier, AGIMUS GmbH Parliament Lia Polotzek 4:15 – 4:30 pm Head of Economic and Financial Policy, Summary of the outcomes from the Friends of the Earth Germany e. V. (BUND) point of view of the Federal Environment Ministry and the European Commission Dr Marina Beermann Annette Schmidt-Räntsch Director EDEKA Partnership, World Wide Policy Officer in the Environment and Fund For Nature (WWF) Economy Division at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Dr Heinz Herzog Nuclear Safety (BMU) Environmental Management Officer, CWS Powder Coatings GmbH & Co. KG Kęstutis Sadauskas Director of the Directorate for Circular Economy and Green Growth (ENV.B) of the Directorate-General Environment of the European Commission 5 BETWEEN ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL 6 Introduction nvironmental protection and sustain­ For 25 years, the voluntary Eco­Management E ability are permeating our society and and Audit Scheme (EMAS) has been the pre­ the economy more and more. Companies ferred environmental management tool for are facing high expectations and an ever companies wishing to continuously impro­ greater number are moving towards sus­ ve their environmental performance and tainable practices. Businesses are called on provide transparent environmental repor­ to commit to the Paris climate targets, es­ ting. tablish sustainability standards in their supply chains and provide transparent re­ The Federal Ministry for the Environment, porting on their environmental and sus­ Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety tainability performance. (BMU) held a virtual conference on 29 September 2020 to mark the 25th anniversa­ Clear political guidelines are the basis for ry of EMAS. The objectives of the conference sustainable business practices. The European were: Green Deal, which includes the objective of making Europe climate neutral by 2050, is • to look at the opportunities and challen­ intended to be a centrepiece of economic re­ ges of sustainable business practices as po­ covery and promote the medium­to­long­ tential drivers for overcoming the current term shift towards a sustainable European crisis and transforming the economy; and economy. Stimulus packages to handle the • to discuss the way to progress towards COVID­19 pandemic are currently being resilient and future­proof environmental drafted in other EU member states, and there management for companies. are increasing calls for these to include a more ecologically sound and socially just A range of experts on industry, politics and distribution of funds. Companies with a sys­ society discussed these and other related tematic sustainability management ap­ topics at the anniversary conference. Appro­ proach have a clear advantage when it comes ximately 230 participants from across to compliance with political and societal ex­ Germany and Europe followed the con­ pectations and tapping into new business ference live stream online. opportunities. 7 BETWEEN ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL Conference outcomes Greetings from Florian Pronold, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Core messages ∙ 25 years of EMAS stand for 25 years ∙ An EMAS-compliant environmental of responsible business conduct. management system is the basis for EMAS is more relevant today than sustainable, credible and transparent ever. business practices and for resilient supply chains ∙ A sustainable economy begins with the individual businesses. EMAS contributes to the necessary trans- formation of the economy. 8 lorian Pronold, Parliamentary State F Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry, opened the conference. In his welcome address, he emphasised that the economy and sustainability are no longer mutually exclusive, but rather that the companies integrating sustainability aspects in their activities fared better in the market. From his point of view, the use of EMAS “We need companies to develop sustainable demonstrates that businesses take their business models. EMAS has provided a solid environmental and social impacts seriously. basis for that over the past 25 years. With the He said that more real sustainability in prac­ current shift in mindset taking place, EMAS tice instead of greenwashing is exactly what will continue to be a useful building block is needed today in order to make progress for gradually integrating sustainability goals on the Green Deal and its implementation at in company policies,” he summarised at the the company level. end of his speech. 9 BETWEEN ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL Keynote by Kęstutis Sadauskas, Director of Circular Economy and Green Growth of the Directorate- General Environment of the European Commission Core messages ∙ In light of major challenges posed by ∙ EMAS can play an important role in climate change and our resource implementing key political initiatives consumption, environmental