Once it takes effect in 2024, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires affected companies to track and disclose, on top of their financial statements, an ESG (environmental, social and governance) report — often called “non-financial”, because it focuses on non-monetary information, in particular the impacts and risks on the environment, society, people and the company’s entire ecosystem.
Given that transport accounts for 25 % of CO2 emissions in Europe, according to the European Environment Agency, the environmental impact of a company’s vehicle fleet must be front and center in the ESG report it has to publish. To consolidate the information and prepare that report, transmitting real-time vehicle data to a single interface will be a great help to the finance department.
Vehicle fleet: the importance of tracking CO2 emissions
This requirement is set to apply to a growing number of companies as the thresholds evolve. Furthermore, a company not subject to the CSRD but acting as a subcontractor or supplier to one that is may itself be asked for an annual CO2 impact report. In this new legislative context, the ability to provide reliable, structured information on its CO2 emissions will increasingly become a competitive advantage — even for a small company.
CSRD regulations are not, in fact, the only reason to track a company’s CO2 emissions. The Climate and Resilience Act (published in the Official Journal on 24 August 2021) sets a target of 70 % low-emission vehicles in fleet renewals by 2030. In parallel, the Mobility Orientation Law requires companies to prioritise vehicles emitting less than 60 g of CO2 per km when renewing their fleets. The goal: to prepare managers, drivers and mindsets for an all-electric future, with a ban on the sale of new internal-combustion vehicles in 2035.
Until that deadline, tracking the fleet’s CO2 emissions day by day is the only way for a decision-maker:
- To assess the current situation and gauge the scope of the work ahead.
- To quantify the changes needed to progress and comply with future standards.
- To implement the energy transition at its own level, through appropriate decisions.
- To track the project’s progress.
- To communicate about the topic, both internally and externally.
Several assessment methods
The question remains how to assess and monitor the environmental impact of these vehicles over time, and CO2 emissions in particular. Two solutions are possible:
01 — Estimation
Based on the number of kilometers traveled and fuel consumption. No investment required, but heavy consolidation work and an imprecise result.
02 — Accurate measurement
Relies on the vehicles’ actual consumption data, as measured at any given moment by the onboard flow meter.
While the first method has the advantage of requiring no investment, it has several drawbacks: you must consolidate, at company level and over a full year, every trip taken — a considerable amount of administrative work. You then have to assign an average consumption to each vehicle to run the calculation, with a result that is inevitably imprecise, since manufacturers’ official consumption figures differ from those observed in real-world conditions. Hence the need for a solution able to transmit the vehicle’s actual consumption.
Vehicle data for emissions monitoring
To implement this second technique, Echoes’ CarFleet solution relies on real-time data transmitted natively by the vehicles to the manufacturer via an onboard 4G/5G chip. This data is generated by the many sensors in modern vehicles: from the odometer to the flow meter, via the speedometer or the traction battery’s charge level.
Consolidated in a dedicated interface, this data can be analyzed and exported for analysis. Over a time period defined by the user, it includes:
- The exact composition of the connected fleet.
- The total mileage traveled by the fleet.
- Total fuel consumption of internal-combustion vehicles.
- Total CO2 emissions of internal-combustion vehicles.
- Total consumption of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, in kWh.
CarFleet: a solution to measure and act
Better still, CarFleet offers many features to track the fleet’s fuel consumption day by day and take the steps needed to manage and reduce it:
- Geolocation and trip history, to optimize routes and choose the most fuel-efficient ones.
- Average vehicle fuel consumption, to act on drivers and/or vehicles with abnormally high figures.
- Mechanical alerts, particularly on tire pressure: underinflation can add up to 10 % more fuel consumption.
- Charge monitoring of plug-in hybrids, to spot vehicles that are barely or never charged — and therefore over-consume fuel.
Thanks to Echoes’ exclusive “Vehicle Data as a Service” technology, the CarFleet solution lets you meet CSRD reporting obligations and track your fleet’s CO2 emissions — with no commitment and no device to install on your vehicles.
Who is subject to the CSRD, and when?
| Company categories | Reference year starting on | Report published as of |
|---|---|---|
| Large EU and non-EU companies above the NFRD thresholds; European public-interest entities and non-EU companies listed on a regulated European market | 1 January 2024 | 2025 |
| Other large EU and non-EU companies meeting at least two of the three size criteria | 1 January 2025 | 2026 |
| SMEs listed on a regulated European market (excluding micro-enterprises: ≤ 10 employees, €350K total assets, €700K revenue) | 1 January 2026 (may be postponed to 2028) | 2027 (may be postponed to 2029) |
| Other large non-European companies: European revenue above €150M with a subsidiary or branch in the EU | 2028 | 2029 |
With CarFleet, consolidate your fleet’s mileage, consumption and CO2 emissions in real time — and simplify your CSRD reporting.
