Objective
1.
The objective of this Standard is to specify Disclosure Requirements which will enable users of the sustainability statement to understand:
- how the undertaking affects resource use, including resource efficiency, avoiding the depletion of resources and the sustainable sourcing and use of renewable resources (referred to in this Standard as “resource use and circular economy”) in terms of material positive and negative actual or potential impacts ;
- any actions taken, and the result of such actions, to prevent or mitigate actual or potential negative impacts arising from resource use, including its measures to help decoupling its economic growth from the use of materials, and to address risks and opportunities;
- the plans and capacity of the undertaking to adapt its strategy and business model in line with circular economy principles including but not limited to minimising waste , maintaining the value of products, materials and other resources at their highest value and enhancing their efficient use in production and consumption;
- the nature, type and extent of the undertaking’s material risks and opportunities related to the undertaking’s impacts and dependencies , arising from resource use and circular economy, and how the undertaking manages them; and
- the financial effects on the undertaking over the short-, medium- and long-term of material risks and opportunities arising from the undertaking’s impacts and dependencies on resource use and circular economy.
2.
This Standard sets out Disclosure Requirements related to “resource use” and “circular economy” and in particular on:
- resource inflows including the circularity of material resource inflows, considering renewable and non-renewable resources; and
- resource outflows including information on products and materials; and
- waste .
Objective
4.
This Standard builds on relevant EU legislative frameworks and policies including the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council [83] (Waste Framework Directive) and the EU industrial strategy.
5.
To evaluate the transition from business as usual, meaning an economy in which finite resources are extracted to make products that are used and then thrown away (“take-make-waste”), to a circular economic system, this Standard relies on the identification of the physical flows of resources, materials and products used and generated by the undertaking through Disclosure Requirement E5-4 Resource inflows and Disclosure Requirement E5-5 Resource outflows.