CSRD may no longer be mandatory for your company, here's why CO2 reporting still pays off

Does postponing CSRD mean CO2 reporting is no longer a priority?

No — and that's exactly the misconception. The legal CSRD obligation has been relaxed for many SMEs, or now applies later. But the demand for CO2 data isn't going away: it now comes from customers, supply chain partners and tenders.

A tender that asks for CO2 emissions per shipment. A major customer that makes sustainability reporting a condition for a contract. A competitor that already has these figures ready — and you don't.

In all these cases, the question isn't "are we legally required to?" but: can we show this when asked — and faster than our competitor?

What does CO2 reporting deliver beyond compliance?

For a group of Dutch wood industry companies with ambitious goals around CO2 neutrality and circularity, we built a solution with 9A Smart Insights to automatically calculate CO2 emissions from transport, material purchases and product sales, broken down by category in Power BI.

For these companies, transport — both from suppliers and their own deliveries to customers — is the largest source of emissions. Purchase and sales documents from 4PS Construct are read automatically, combined with Bing Maps data for routes and distances, and converted into CO2 emissions using standardised formulas.

The result went well beyond a report for an auditor:

• More efficient loading and route planning → lower fuel costs and lower CO2 emissions.
• Better collaboration with customers and suppliers → optimised return logistics and transport flows, leading to significant cost savings.
• Shorter delivery times thanks to better-informed route decisions.

Manually pulling transport data and converting it to CO2 emissions in spreadsheets is a thing of the past — employees who used to spend time on this now focus on work that actually moves the business forward.

When is this relevant for your business?

• You work with 4PS Construct and have significant transport movements via purchase and sales documents.
• Customers or tenders are increasingly asking for CO2 insight per shipment, product or location.
• You notice competitors using sustainability figures as a selling point — and you can't yet.
• You have your own sustainability goals (CO2-neutral, circular) and want to make progress measurable.

When is this not (yet) relevant?

• You have no significant transport flows or material purchases worth automating.
• You're not yet working with 4PS construct  — in that case, getting your ERP environment in order is the first step.
• There's no external or internal demand for sustainability data at all — in that case it's not a priority right now, but worth keeping on your radar.

What are the alternatives?

• Doing nothing — works until the first customer or tender asks, and you don't have an answer.
• Manual spreadsheets — fine for a one-off report, but doesn't scale and is error-prone when repeated.
• Standalone ESG software — can work, but is often disconnected from your ERP data and requires double entry.
• Automated CO2 data inside your existing Power BI environment — the approach described here: set up once, then automatically updated and directly combinable with your operational data.

Conclusion: from a regulatory checkbox to a competitive advantage

CSRD has become less mandatory for many companies — but the demand for transparency on CO2 emissions increasingly comes from the market itself. Companies that already have this data ready can win a tender or reassure a customer at the exact moment it matters. Those that don't are at the mercy of how quickly they can put a spreadsheet together — and that's often too late.

With Birds BI, and the connection between 4PS Construct, Bing Maps route data and Power BI, this data isn't just for compliance — it drives real savings on transport, fuel and logistics.