3 Reasons Blockchain is Key for CSRD & ESRS Compliance Strategy

By
Alvaro Llobet, Head of Product at Finboot
October 25, 2023

As you can imagine, to comply with the CSRD, it is necessary not only to present the data but also to provide comprehensive details about the data collection and analysis process.

High-quality, reliable data is essential for integrating ESG and sustainability into business operations. Trusted data enables companies to gain valuable insights, make informed decisions, and track their progress toward sustainability goals. Accurate, real-time data empowers businesses to enhance decision-making, ensure transparent reporting, and facilitate benchmarking and goal setting.

Industrial markets like energy, steel, chemicals, and cement, which have intricate supply chains, are adopting new technologies to enhance the efficiency of their value chains. Companies like Finboot are at the forefront of this digital transformation, leveraging blockchain technology to track and trace increasingly complex and interconnected supply chains.

We recognize the challenges faced by businesses in digitally transforming their supply chains and transitioning towards transparency and sustainability. We believe blockchain technology is the solution to making businesses more sustainable and efficient, both in terms of ESG factors and cost savings. 

Through blockchain technology, we are driving a circular economy and helping our international client base in traditional sectors (energy, chemicals, plastic, mining, metals, and construction) achieve Net Zero emissions by bringing traceability, transparency, and compliance to their increasingly complex and interconnected supply chains. 

¨Finboot’s innovative SaaS platform, MARCO, significantly improves value chain management and drives digitalization, sustainability, and ESG agendas. MARCO securely connects blockchain technologies under one roof, transforming data into trusted digital assets and accelerating the path to interoperability. The technology helps companies understand where and how their operations and products contribute to climate degradation, so they can respond appropriately to consumer and regulatory pressure.¨

PwC regarding Finboot's nomination for the Supply Chain Awards 2023


Embracing Blockchain for a Sustainable Future

Blockchain technology, with its decentralized, unalterable, and transparent nature, offers a robust solution to addressing ESG reporting. It allows for the creation of a digital twin, or TOKEN, of a physical asset that can be tracked throughout its lifecycle. This token can record all transaction-related data, from simple attributes like weight and quantity to complex details such as responsible sourcing certificates and environmental impact information, offering comprehensive visibility and traceability.

The technology's potential for environmental sustainability reporting is immense, extending to fields like energy consumption, carbon credits, water usage tracking, and plastic production. 

The three major blockchain applications you should be aware of:

#1 - Digital Product Passport (DPP): End-to-end supply chain visibility, asset digitalisation, and tracking

DPP is a key component of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) proposed by the European Commission. This initiative aims to enhance product and component traceability, with plans to introduce a digital product passport in at least three major industrial sectors by 2024. The DPP uses blockchain technology to record product lifecycle data, making it unalterable, transparent, and therefore trustworthy. This promotes accountability and sustainability in supply chains, helping combat climate change.

#2 - Mass Balance: Traceability of circularity and renewables, including management of sustainability credits to help substantiate ESG claims.

This approach, one of the five common Chain of Custody Models (COCs), encourages the use of recycled materials, thereby reducing environmental strain. This method mixes used materials with specific characteristics with other materials, creating an output consistent with the input.

The goal is to help manufacturers gradually replace fossil materials with eco-friendly alternatives, thereby reducing their carbon footprint. By adopting the Mass Balance approach, companies can ensure responsible sourcing, promoting a circular economy and product sustainability.

#3 - Smart contracts: Invoice reconciliation for supplier communications and automated business rule validation

These self-executing contracts, coded with pre-defined terms, are mutually agreed upon by the blockchain network participants. They automate the execution of transactions, such as payments or data exchange, eliminating the need for interference.

This aspect of blockchain can significantly reduce risks associated with double accounting or greenwashing. For example, a supplier cannot overstate the renewable content in a product beyond what's registered on the blockchain ledger, as the system enforces the "no double accounting" rule.

The execution of smart contracts through code, rather than humans, removes the risk of human error and automates tasks traditionally requiring human intervention. This advantage, coupled with the absence of intermediaries and the time-saving, dispute-minimizing nature of the decentralized system, makes blockchain an extremely efficient and trustworthy tool for ESG data reporting and sustainability initiatives.

Conclusion

As businesses navigate the dynamic and complex landscape of ESG and sustainability, integrating trusted data, DLT, ecosystem thinking, and responsible AI becomes crucial. By embracing these concepts and technologies, businesses can create value for all stakeholders and contribute to a more sustainable future.

Moreover, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration is key. Organizations can harness the transformative power of data and technology to address environmental, social, and governance challenges. As a business and society, we must continuously explore new ways of working together and leveraging these powerful tools as we move closer to realizing a world where companies can thrive financially and positively impact the well-being of people, society, and the planet.

Finboot is a technology company that provides digital traceability solutions to enterprise customers across multiple industries, enhancing supply chain traceability, transparency, compliance, operational efficiencies, and cost savings through process automation and streamlining, while promoting sustainability and ESG.