NEW AGE or let's talk about SUSTAINABILITY in plain language

Promoters of the sustainability phenomenon hold high over their heads various slogans promising to use the regulatory instruments of sustainability to steer society towards sustainable prosperity, while critics of the idea advise to be cautios regarding the new "sustainability narrative" and its implementation instruments, and to pay more attention to possible negative side-effects.​

Rödl & Partner has been attentive to this "confrontation of two world views" in Latvia and globally, keeping its finger on the pulse of the latest developments and persistently building a team of specialists whose collective expertise in sustainability or ESG covers the spectrum of corporate governance and audit, commercial, corporate, national and European law. The team's brainstorming events and joint work have led to development of common understanding of the issue and tools that are indispensable for the implementation of an ESG management system in a company.

The time has come, where Rödl & Partner is up to talk about the complex dimensions of sustainability, its obligations, risks and opportunities in a language and way accessible and understandable for the clients, through a series of short posts on the various nuances of sustainability regulation.

For the start one shall know that a number of new corporate sustainability obligations come into force this year: for example, from 2025 the annual report of a large company must include sustainability information on the company's impact on sustainability and the impact of sustainability measures on the company, and from 28 June 2025 the requirements of the Access to Goods and Services Act will come into force, affecting not only manufacturers but also providers of services (including e-commerce services). As for now technical screening criteria for assessment  of sustainability impact of various economic activities have been developed and made available, as well as standards that sets the requirements on how the companies to monitor and report on their sustainability performance.

The sustainability narrative has an impact on corporate governance framework as it results in reinforcement of the responsibility of board members with regard to ESG spectrum issues, which can further lead to increased business costs and consequently reduced profits, and thus - the need to anticipate these nuances in the corporate governance model.

In addition, large companies will face new demands in the future and small and medium-sized companies will face a new necessities to manage their transformation towards sustainability in accordance with due diligence processes in order to maintain their place in value chains and avoid losing competitiveness and access to external sources of finance.

Along the process Rödl & Partner team remains a trusted partner to its clients in all dimensions, including sustainability, and upholds the principles of care, guidance and success, helping to proactively plan the necessary measures to thrive in environment of sustainability, not just to deal with the consequences of delays.

But while you're thinking, stay tuned for Rödl & Partner future posts, where we'll take a closer look at the nuances of sustainability.