Accountancy Europe supports the European Commission’s initiative for the Green Deal, presented last week. The proposal aims to turn Europe into the first climate neutral continent by 2050. Any delays to this crucial objective can lead to life threatening consequences. We expect both MEPs and EU Heads of State to look beyond national, political or short-term interests to achieve this challenging goal.

“Sustainability has been high on our agenda for more than 20 years. We are ready to work alongside the European Commission and other stakeholders to make the Green Deal a reality. With scientists saying we have only 10 years left to prevent catastrophic climate damage, the EU Institutions and the Member States will have to be even more ambitious with their timeline” said Olivier Boutellis-Taft CEO of Accountancy Europe.

The Green Deal aims for inclusive policies that leave no one behind – a necessity for an orderly transformation of the economy. To achieve any of this, the EU will need significant financing. High quality, relevant and reliable data is crucial to ensure that funding flows to sustainable investments. We are therefore glad to see that the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) will be reviewed. We issued a call to action to improve the Non-Financial Reporting Directive to make corporate reporting the basis for more sustainable business decisions.

We encourage the Commission to maintain a high level of ambition during the NFRD revision. It is also important to account for natural resources – something that the Commission will work on and the profession is happy to contribute with its expertise. Our tax system needs to better support the climate ambitions of the EU, and we look forward to the proposals in 2021 on this. We already supported the further embedding of sustainability into the corporate governance framework and advocated for systemic change in how the economy functions in the publication 10 ideas to make corporate governance the driver of a sustainable economy.