Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports

And that’s a wrap!🤝On Tuesday 26 March, we concluded the final workshop of 2024. As you may be aware, these workshops serve as a follow-up to the Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports. 🌿The aim is to offer you a blend of technical and practical insights, bridging the gap between technical aspects and organisational practices. To mark the end of this cycle of workshops, let's take a look back at the key figures for this year's edition. 🌱7 workshops were organised between December 2023 and March 2024 on hot ESG topics, from legislation to assurance on sustainability information. All of these workshops were conducted online and lasted 1h30 each. 🌱 We had the privilege of collaborating with 15 presenters who delved into the theoretical aspects of the covered subjects and skilfully facilitated the workshops. 🌱 14 guest speakers graciously shared practical insights into the ESG topics discussed, drawing from their companies’ wealth of experience in the same domain. 🌱 We averaged 115 participants per workshop, which represents a considerable turnout with a final total of 803 participants. Thank you to all of those who actively participated in these workshops! 🌱 The best attended workshop took place on 26 March 2024 and focused on assurance requirements for sustainability information and tips on getting ready for the future. You can still watch and listen to all these workshops on our website https://lnkd.in/e6rkHixB. More information will also soon be available about the upcoming opening of the contest of the Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports 2024. 🌿 Thanks again to everyone who helped to make these workshops a success. Thank you to all the speakers, presenters and organisers! 👏 Anne-Catherine Trinon, Harry Everaerts, Anne-Catherine Zoller, Bert Vandewalle, Marc Daelman, Stephanie Hold, Philippe Chauveau, Deborah Fischer, Tessy Martens, Bénédicte Passagez, Natalia Agüeros-Macario, Tom Renders, Zhou-Heng Yang, Werner Van Peteghem, Sarah Fialon, Guido DE CLERCQ, Steven Mulkens, Sandra Gobert (she/her), Géraldine Nolens, Pierre-Henri D'haene, luc van liedekerke, Serge Pattyn, Hein Lannoy, Thomas Van Craen, Kristof Vande Capelle, Tom Van den Berghe, Sofian Milad, Ophélie Franco, Florens Slob

💡 Did you know that the jury of the previous edition of the Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports welcomed 60% of the reports submitted in 2023 that were already aligned with the CSRD or would refer to it in the future? The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) has become the hot topic of the year when it comes to sustainability. 🌿This standard aims to make companies more accountable to the public by requiring them to publish regular information on their societal and environmental impact, as well as on their governance. Three main objectives are: 🌱1. to reduce greenwashing, 🌱2. to strengthen the EU's social market economy, 🌱and 3. to lay the foundations for global reporting standards on sustainable development. 💡 And what about now with the ESRS ? The CSRD extends the EU's sustainability reporting requirements to all large companies with more than 250 employees and to all listed small and medium-sized companies. With the CSRD, companies will then have to report both on how sustainability issues affect their performance, position and development, as well as on their own impact on people and the environment (it is the so called “double materiality”). 🌿By doing so, these organisations contribute to greater transparency and accountability. Interested to find out more on this topic? Check it out on our website https://lnkd.in/emudhmis #sustainability #CSRD #ESRS

How can companies prepare themselves to provide assurance on their #sustainability information?🌿 Today, many organisations disclose their 🌱sustainability information without any form of assurance to their stakeholders. However, with the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), assurance will become mandatory for large companies. They will then need to be well prepared to avoid any unexpected surprises during the assurance process. 👉Would you like to find out more? This workshop is the last one to be organized this year in the continuity of the Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports.🌱 It will explore both current practices and future requirements concerning the assurance of ESG information, as well as providing guidance on the best way to demonstrate the accuracy and completeness of sustainability information. 🌿 To facilitate this workshop, we will have Sofian Milad, Partner at Deloitte, and Ophélie Franco, Senior at Deloitte. Florens Slob, Group Sustainability & Innovation Director at Greenyard, is our guest speaker this time. Finally, we'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who is helping to make this last workshop a success, as well as everyone who did it for all the other workshops this year. 🤝 So, to find out more information, please visit the website here https://lnkd.in/e6rkHixB and register to this last workshop or discover the replays of the past ones! #sustainability #CSRD #sustainabilityinformation  

How do we find out whether financial intermediaries, who play a crucial role in our economic model, are already helping to ensure a more sustainable future without jeopardising our social context? 🌱 In other words, are financial intermediaries already assuming their responsibilities and taking sustainability issues into account in their decision-making processes, and if so, in what way? Does this issue speaks to you? 🗓 On Monday 11 March, this issue will be the focus of the next workshop organised in the continuity of the Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports. 🌿 Once again, theoretical aspects will be linked to more practical aspects resulting from the experience of organisations. luc van liedekerke, Professor of business ethics at the University Antwerp and the KULeuven, and Serge Pattyn, Financial Analyst and Business Consultant ABAF/BVFA, are facilitating this workshop. As guest speakers, we will have Kristof Vande Capelle, CFO at Gimv, Thomas Van Craen, Managing Director at Triodos Bank, Hein Lannoy, Managing Director at Assuralia, and Tom Van den Berghe, Director Sustainable Fiance at Febelfin. There are only two workshops left for 2024! So don't hesitate to register for one of them ! More information and registration here https://lnkd.in/e6rkHixB ! #sustainability #sustainablefuture

How do you look at climate risk assessment? 🌱 Do you know that climate risk assessment helps companies test the resilience of their activities and portfolio strategies? In fact, scenario analyses for climate prospects examine in each case different possible ways to reach different possible futures. 🌿 In other words, it means looking at the physical and transition risks and opportunities for each different case. Do you know what are examples of physical risks? And of transition risks? Physical risk are, for instance, soil erosion, sea level rise or drought, while transition risks are, for instance, substitution of existing products and services with lower emission options or changing customer behaviour or preferences. Does this speak to you? Would you be interested in finding out more? The workshop on Context (CSRD), methodology and risk assessment of strategic value, held on 16 January 2024, took up this issue. Were you able to attend? If not, you can still do so, via the digital replay available here (https://lnkd.in/e__GDt6i). What's more? You can also watch the replays of all the other workshops organised as a follow-up to the Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports on the website of the Awards (https://lnkd.in/e6rkHixB) and register for the last two workshops of 2024. More information coming up! #sustainability #csrd #climate

Mark your calendars! 🗓 Tuesday 27 February will see the next online workshop organised as part of the Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports. Key issues and implications of governance in terms of #sustainability🌿will be discussed here. Does this speak to you? During this workshop, you will find out about the importance of governance and the implications and requirements of governance under the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards). 🌱 What's more? You'll also have the opportunity to gain a better understanding of how sustainable governance is organised. And to take things even further, there's also a look at the best practices and the practices that need to be improved in this area. To give you all this information, we can rely on guest speakers invited to this workshop! Pierre-Henri D'haene, Head of Strategy, sustainability and transformation at Elia, Pascale-Marie Barriquand, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Luminus, and Géraldine Nolens, Executive-Vice-President & member at the Management Board at Umicore, will each share their experiences in the matter. To facilitate the running of the workshop, we will have Guido DE CLERCQ, Transparency International, Sandra Gobert (she/her), Executive Director at GUBERNA, and Steven Mulkens, Executive Director at KMPG. Keep in mind that participation in these workshops is free, but limited. So, register now! You'll find all the information you need here, including registration details: https://lnkd.in/e6rkHixB #sustainability #governance #csrd #esrs

Between December 2023 and March 2024, online workshops are organised in the continuity of the Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports. 🌿 The aim is to provide both technical and practical content to the public by linking the technical aspects with the experience of organisations who can explain their own challenges and opportunities in terms of #sustainability. 🌱 Do you want to know more about EU Taxonomy requirements and get practical examples designed both for corporates and financial institutions? Join us for our next workshop on Monday 12 February! 📆 You will learn some best practices on the EU Taxonomy process and gain a better understanding of some common pitfalls you can avoid.  Tom Renders, Partner at Deloitte & Sustainable Finance expert and Zhou-Heng Yang, Manager within the Sustainable Business Solutions team at PwC are facilitating the workshop. They invited Werner Van Peteghem, Sustainability & Communications Director at Recticel and Sarah Fialon, ESG Expertise & CEO Office at Belfius to share their experience. Participation is free and open to everyone. Please note that registrations are limited. So don't hesitate to register! For more information and registration, please go to our website: https://lnkd.in/e6rkHixB #sustainability #eutaxonomy

The series of online workshops organised as part of the Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports continues! 🌱 These workshops are open to all, with a view to exchanging best practices in #sustainability reports. The next workshop will take place on Tuesday 30 January 2024 online💻from 12.00 to 13.30 and will be organised by Deborah Fischer, Partner at RSM Belgium and Tessy Martens, Senior Advisor at BDO. As guests, we will have Bénédicte Passagez, Head of Sustainability at Ethias and Natalia Agüeros-Macario, Director ESG Strategy & Engagement at Umicore. They will discuss some new major requirements from the EU legislation on sustainability 🌿 and give at the same time some practical guidance on how to approach them. Furthermore, if you want to hear some tips on how to prepare for your reporting journey, you should definitely come! For more information and registration on this specific workshop, please visit our website: https://lnkd.in/e6rkHixB

As you may know, the Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports are much more than just a contest! 🌱 It’s an initiative that aims at promoting the exchange of best practices in #sustainability reporting.   One way we do this is by organising online workshops 💻 that are accessible to everyone!   The second workshop will take place on Tuesday 12 January (from 12.00 to 13.30) and will be organised by Marc Daelman, Partner at PwC and Stephanie Hold, Manager Sustainability Business Solution at PwC, with Philippe Chauveau, Head of Climate at Solvay, as guest.   They will focus on the CSRD context, methodology and strategic value of a Climate risk assessment with practical insights from Solvay   Are you interested in a brief high-level context around the importance of Climate Change in today's regulatory landscape? Do you want to know how to look at Climate Change (physical and transition risks and opportunities) and here what has been done at Solvay on the matter?   Then this workshop is for you!    For more information on this specific workshop and all the others that will follow, check https://lnkd.in/e6rkHixB

The aftermovie of our 2023 ceremony is out 🎥 Check it out now!   “What is there to see in this aftermovie?” you may wonder.   Well, besides shots from a cheerful evening and a delightful atmosphere (obviously 😉), you’ll get to hear a few people’s take on the event and the topic of sustainability reporting:   🌱 Marc Daelman, President of the Jury of the Awards for Best Belgian Sustainability Reports   🌱 Kelly Moerman, Sustainability Manager at Alides (Best First Sustainability Report Award)   🌱 Jan Danckaert, Rector of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Best Impact Sustainability Report Award)   🌱 Géraldine Nolens, Executive Vice President ESG and General Counsel at Umicore (Best Impact Sustainability Report Award)   🌱 Erik Peeters, CFO of VPK Group (Most Original and Creative Sustainability Report Award and Best Impact Sustainability Report Award)   🌱 Patrick Van Impe, President of the Institut des Réviseurs d'Entreprises organising the event   Is #sustainability #reporting a topic that matters to you? Is your organisation already publishing sustainability information or is it planning to do so in the future? Are you getting ready for the implementation of the #CSRD in Belgium? FOLLOW OUR LINKEDIN PAGE!