BDO/Kirchhoff Reporting Study: ATX companies record the greatest successes in greenhouse gas reduction among top indices in the DACH region

Hamburg, Oktober 11, 2023 - The total emissions of companies in the DACH region fell by just one percent year-on-year in 2021/2022 across all indices. This is shown by a look at the emissions figures communicated in the sustainability reports. In a comparison of indices in the DACH region, however, the Austrian benchmark index ATX stands out positively: With a reduction of 13 percent across all scopes, it is well ahead of the Swiss SMI with -3 percent and ahead of the German DAX (0 percent) and MDAX (+8 percent) indices. A large part of the reduction in the ATX is attributable to individual companies that were still responsible for a substantial part of the total emissions in the index in 2021 and were able to significantly reduce their emissions in 2022. This is the conclusion of the study by BDO AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft and Kirchhoff Consult AG, which analyzes sustainability reports and non-financial statements of 200 companies from the DAX 40, MDAX and SDAX, as well as SMI and ATX.*

In 2022, companies in the DACH region will thus not have reduced CO2 emissions sufficiently to meet the requirements of the United Nations' 1.5°C target. Nevertheless, there are already some indications that companies are on the right track overall: More than three-quarters (92 percent) of all sustainability reports surveyed published a detailed carbon footprint for 2022, and about two-thirds (66 percent) followed the recommended guidelines of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). This ensures greater transparency and forms the basis for a successful climate management.

Climate management: ATX companies with catching up to do on scientifically validated reduction targets
The joint study also showed that the companies that have already committed to short-term, scientifically validated reduction targets in accordance with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) were able to reduce more than nine percent of their Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions in the 2022 reporting year - i.e., direct emissions from their own business activities as well as indirect emissions from purchased energy. In the ATX, only half of the companies have so far committed to formulating short-term science-based reduction targets (according to the SBTi). Just under a third have had these targets validated. The situation is different in the SMI, where 80 percent of companies have set themselves short-term, scientifically validated targets, or plan to do so within the next couple of years. Among the DAX40 companies, the figure is 70 percent, and 36 percent in the MDAX.

CSRD readiness: GRI established as a framework among ATX companies
With the entry into force of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the relevance of the reporting standards of GRI and SASB has also increased further across all indices: 95 percent of the sustainability reports examined follow a specific reporting standard. The GRI standards continue to be the most widely used framework. 85 percent of the ATX companies that use GRI as the framework for their sustainability report already prepare it in full compliance with the framework. In the SMI, the figure is 69 percent, the figure for the DAX40 is 63 percent, and in the MDAX 56 percent.

"The GRI standards as a framework are already firmly established in the ATX. In this respect, ATX companies are already well prepared for CSRD," according to Vincent Furnari, Managing Partner at Kirchhoff Consult AG. The situation is different when using the SASB framework: Here, the ATX trails with 12 percent, behind companies from SMI (95 percent), DAX40 (69 percent) and MDAX (27 percent).

With the adoption of the CSRD, there will also be an obligation to have sustainability reporting externally audited in the future. Accordingly, more than three quarters (76 percent) of all companies surveyed had already subjected their non-financial statements to an external audit before the CSRD came into force. In the ATX, only 71 percent of companies have so far done so, compared with 83 percent in the DAX40 and as many as 89 percent in the SMI.

All the results of this study can be found here (German only).

_{*The study is based on a descriptive category system-based secondary data analysis of the sustainability reports and non-financial reporting according to CSR-RUG of all DAX 160, ATX and SMI companies as of June 30, 2023.}