Understanding the Sustainability Regulation Landscape in 2024
While regulations for global sustainability legislation are in various states of finalization, public sentiment, new legislation, and industry-wide initiatives suggest the tide is turning. This is the year for media and entertainment studios, broadcasters, producers, and tech vendors to get their green ducks in a row. It’s imperative that media and entertainment firms put a workflow together this year for reporting sustainability practices.
Legislation is advancing, with Europe leading the way. Europe’s CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive) calls for enterprises to set up practices to identify, prevent, or mitigate adverse impacts of their corporate activities on human rights and the environment. The EU’s CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) is a reporting framework that provides investors with access to information they need to assess investment risks arising from sustainability issues.
Pending regulations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will require public companies to account for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the environmental risks they face, and the measures they're taking in response. Japan has announced mandatory ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) reporting for listed companies. In Chile, issuers of publicly offered securities and other regulated entities must disclose on ESG as part of their Annual Reports.
And just this week, the EU’s designated standards reporting body has released a public commentary period on two draft statements that will impact small-medium enterprises (SME) in coming years.
ESG Regulations Status by Global Jurisdiction
While they are attempting to consolidate on common frameworks, each jurisdiction around the world varies in its reporting requirements and implementation dates.
This infographic is from Sustainable Fitch ESG Tracker.
Many of the reporting requirements start in 2025, so 2024 is the year to start capturing data. While initial requirements target publicly listed companies, vendors to these companies will need to supply data as well as part of reporting companies’ supply chain management requirements. If you’re a production company working in England, for example, you’ll need to abide by the UK regulations.
Sustainability certifications began prior to the enactment of regulations and are also picking up steam. These are independent, third-party organizations that provide objective assessments on how a company operates. They measure statistics such as water and energy usage, and waste management. The certifications are part of a set of global frameworks often used to report carbon emission calculations. While not currently a government requirement, if a company receives a good score, those doing business with that company can be reasonably assured of its compliance with sustainability metrics. As enterprises look to procure services from entities that share their sustainability values, these certifications will become increasingly important.
These assessments are important to consider and not always easy to complete. They require digging deep into your operations to gather up the data points. But in the end, the assessments can provide guidance in making changes that support overarching sustainability efforts.
There is only one assessment that is focused on the media and entertainment industry. The DPP has provided its assessment free to the industry since 2019. Some of the other better-known organizations providing sustainability assessments and certifications include: the GRI, CDP, EcoVadis, and SBTi (Science-based Target Initiatives).
Read my interview with Televisual and watch a webcast from MTSS about data management considerations in media tech.
