Sustainability/ESG Bulletin, Friday 10 January 2025

In this week's, Sustainability/ESG Bulletin read about tax measures for electrical vehicles now in effect from Budget 2025, detailed climate projections and new funding for adult financial literacy projects in Ireland. Also covered is the entering into application of new EU rules to improve gender balance in corporate boards, a new OECD paper on how public budgeting can support climate goals, the departure of US firms from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, as well as technical updates, articles, podcasts and upcoming events.

Ireland news

EV tax measures from Budget 2025 now in effect  

The following tax measures pertaining to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) announced in Budget 2025 took effect from Wednesday 1 January 2025:

• BIK Exemption for Installation of BEV home charger: From 1 January 2025, a benefit-in-kind (BIK) exemption will apply to the installation of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) home charger by an employer at a director’s or an employee’s private residence. This means that a director or employee will not pay BIK on the installation of a home charger, which is required for work purposes and aims to support the rollout of BEVs in the commercial fleet.
• VRT Rate Change for Commercial Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs): Finance Act 2024 amended the weight ratio requirement from 130% to 125% for commercial electric vehicles in order to qualify for the €200 category C VRT rate. This amendment comes into effect from 1 January 2025.

Climate Projections for Ireland: Key Findings and Implications

Scientists based at the Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) in the University of Galway have warned that Ireland’s future weather will be even warmer and wetter than previously predicted. Commenting, the report’s lead author, Paul Nolan, said that it is imperative that planners and policymakers are adequately informed about future climate change so they can implement appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures: “This research will inform national policy and further our understanding of the impacts of climate change at a local scale”.

New funding for adult financial literacy projects in Ireland

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is to contribute €250,000 towards adult financial literacy projects in 2025 supporting adults with the skills needed to build financial literacy and access financial services. Latest figures from the Programme for International Assessment for Adult Competencies (PIAAC) published by the OECD show that one in four adults in Ireland struggle with everyday maths. The funding announcement by the CCPC follows the publication in April 2024 by the Department of Finance of a mapping report into the development of a Financial Literacy Strategy.

Export phase of Small-scale Renewal Electricity Support Scheme

The terms and conditions of the export phase of the Small-scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS) have been published. They have been designed with the aim of providing a simpler route to market for community and small-scale projects, and to align more closely to the experience and capacity of this sector. Commenting, Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications described the approval of the SRESS terms and conditions as “an important milestone for communities, SMEs [Small and Medium Sized Enterprises], farmers and others to maximise their participation in the energy transition.” The scheme is due to open for applications on 27 January 2025.

Northern Ireland news

Business in the Community Northern Ireland (BITCI), in partnership with Diversity Mark, has announced a new series of monthly online sessions aiming to support businesses in creating more diverse and inclusive workplaces. The first session, ‘From Awareness to Action: Building Disability Inclusive Workplaces’ will take place on Tuesday 28 January, 10:00 – 10:45am.

Europe news

New EU rules to improve Gender Balance in corporate boards enter into application

New EU rules to improve Gender Balance in corporate boards have entered into application. The Gender Balance on Corporate Boards Directive, which entered into application at the end of 2024, aims for a more balanced gender representation on the boards of listed companies across all EU Member States. The Directive sets a target for EU large listed companies of 40% of the underrepresented sex among their non-executive directors and 33% among all directors. The deadline for the transposition by Member States was 28 December 2024, and companies must meet the targets by 30 June 2026.

World news

OECD publishes paper on how public budgeting can support climate goals

The OECD has published a paper on how public budgeting can support climate goals. The paper, Beyond green tagging, discusses new instruments to better link budgets and results, the challenges involved in linking budget and emissions, and the steps needed to overcome them.

Net-Zero Banking Alliance loses firms

Several major Wall Street banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo have left the Net-Zero Banking Alliance – a group dedicated to helping lenders reduce their carbon footprints. More US banks are expected to follow their lead, in a development reportedly reflecting growing anti-ESG sentiment in the US.

LA fires damage and economic loss potential

Technical Updates

(From our colleagues in Professional Accounting)

• EFRAG has added further non-authoritative technical explanations to its compilation of explanations that are intended to assist stakeholders in the implementation of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRSs).  EFRAG has also published an addendum to EFRAG IG 3 ‘ESRS Datapoints’, which is part of EFRAG's non-authoritative implementation guidance on the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRSs)

   

• EFRAG has announced that it has delivered its technical advice on the Voluntary SME (“VSME”) standard to the European Commission. EFRAG has also released some educational videos on the VSME standard.

   

• The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) recently launched a webcast series to discuss how IFRS Accounting Standards and IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards complement each other.  

   

• The FRC, in its role as the Secretariat to the UK Sustainability Disclosure Technical Advisory Committee, has published the Committee’s final recommendations to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, recommending endorsement of the first two IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards for use in the UK.

   

• Chartered Accountants Ireland has issued Technical Alert 04/2024 Sample CSRD Limited Assurance Report. This is in addition to Technical Alert 02/2024 – Sample Engagement Letter Terms in respect to the provision of Limited Assurance under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, issued in June 2024.

   

• The Institute has revised the CPD Regulations with effect from 1 January 2025. CPD Regulation 4.6 now specifically mentions 'sustainability assurance' as a subject area in which a member who is working in practice should undertake CPD if that member is involved in work of this nature.  Read more here

   

• Accountancy Europe has published a new webpage of FAQs: fundamentals to assurance on sustainability reporting 

• The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the We Mean Business Coalition (WMBC), together with the Global Accounting Alliance (GAA), have published a report titled ‘Building Trust in Sustainability Reporting and Preparing for Assurance: Governance and Controls for Sustainability Information’.

   

• Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) is preparing a series focused on nature to assist accountants and finance professionals in shaping a nature-positive economy that supports long-term value creation. The first guide in the series, The Business Case for Nature, explains why nature is vital to business and offers clear steps and practical tips for developing the business case for your organization.

Articles

• Irish listed firms must ‘take action’ to meet new EU gender targets (Business Post)
• The antidote to doom is doing (FT-SustainableViews)

Podcasts

Events

Jobs

Trinity College Dublin seeks a researcher/project manager for Ecosystem Accounting project (Job details)

Sustainability Centre

You can find information, guidance and supports to understand sustainability and meet the challenges it presents in our online Sustainability Centre.