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Despite 100% of Businesses Preparing for EU CSRD Compliance, EcoOnline Research Finds 63% of Mid-Market Organisations Struggling with Readiness

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Businesses committed to going beyond compliance to integrate sustainability into operations, increase budgets and drive performance improvement.

LONDON, Nov. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — EcoOnline, a leading SaaS provider of safety and sustainability solutions, today launches its 2024 EU CSRD Readiness Report 2024. The report explores how EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) regulations are perceived by mid-market and enterprise businesses, the challenges faced in implementation, and the processes and technologies employed to achieve goals.

Mid-market companies at risk of being underprepared

Although 100% of survey respondents have begun preparing for EU CSRD compliance, enterprise organisations (those with over €1B in annual revenue) are further along in their readiness than their mid-market peers. While 60% of enterprise organisations are ‘almost ready’ and have the right tools and solutions in place, only 37% of mid-market businesses said the same, and risk being ‘left behind’ as a result.

Though mid-market businesses have slightly longer to prepare, these organisations need more support with scaling EU CSRD efforts. Top areas cited by mid-market respondents for further support were 1) data collection, 2) greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, and 3) drafting EU CSRD report outputs, indicating a lack of confidence in tools and processes.

On the road to readiness

Over half of those surveyed are focusing on double materiality assessments as a vital compliance step to identify areas for resource investment. However, EcoOnline’s SVP ESG & Sustainability, David Picton comments: “As organisations navigate sustainability’s dynamic landscape, it’s encouraging to see them focusing on double materiality, but these assessments alone are just the first step in fulfilling complex compliance needs. To meet the EU CSRD deadlines, companies need to act quickly to optimise data collection and report drafting.”

Organisations are also tackling CSRD preparedness by:

Sustainability being led from the top: The majority (89%) of organisations have senior leadership roles focused on sustainability strategy, with finance, EHS, and operations also involved to meet EU CSRD requirements.Seeking external expertise: 63% of respondents are looking to consultancy support for data collection and reporting to achieve CSRD readiness.Leveraging technology such as SaaS: 94% plan to adopt third-party software for reporting, and 76% are implementing tools for data collection, highlighting that businesses see the value of harnessing both SaaS (software as a service) and external expertise as a key part in achieving compliance.Increasing sustainability spending: 95% plan to boost sustainability investments over the next two years, with focus areas including tools, consulting, staffing, training, and research. Mid-market companies are looking to close the gap on their readiness, with 32% planning to increase spending in the next 12 months, compared to 19% of enterprise respondents.

Thinking beyond compliance

The report found an overwhelming majority of respondents (66% of enterprise and 89% of mid-market) believe the directive will drive meaningful sustainability integration within their operations over the next 3–5 years. In fact, many companies in Europe are already implementing voluntary reporting frameworks beyond mandatory reporting, like the Science Based Targets Initiative (93%), Global Reporting Initiative (99%), or Carbon Disclosure Project (100%).

David Picton also notes, “It is no longer enough to be ‘compliant’ – now businesses must be proactive and broad-minded about investing in long-term, sustainable, ethical operations to drive meaningful impact. The EU CSRD is a good starting point for this behaviour change, but to achieve lasting benefits and competitive advantage, organisations must view sustainability as fundamental to driving revenue, profit, and business growth.”

Need help with your EU CSRD compliance and reporting? Download the 2024 EU CSRD Readiness Report for key insights, attend David Picton’s ‘Top 5 Insights’ webinar on December 4th or learn more about EcoOnline’s CSRD Assessment solution.

Methodology
The 2024 EU CSRD Readiness Survey engaged executives, VPs, and directors in ESG, sustainability, finance, operations, EHS, and strategy across companies in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and the UK.

The respondents represent a sample of over 50,000 companies subject to the EU CSRD, covering firms across various revenue bands, from small and mid-market companies (€10M–€1B in annual revenues) to large enterprise organisations (over €1B in annual revenues). This sample provided a 95% confidence level with a 10% margin of error.

About EcoOnline
EcoOnline delivers innovative environment, health and safety (EHS), chemical management and ESG and sustainability technology solutions to forward-thinking leaders. Founded in 2000 and trusted by over 10,000 brands worldwide, EcoOnline’s connected suite of SaaS software enables businesses to protect their people and the planet by ensuring compliance, mitigating risk and streamlining operations. Backed by an unwavering commitment to customer success, EcoOnline’s software is powerful yet simple to use – built on decades of real-world expertise, data and insights.

Visit ecoonline.com to immediately and positively impact your workplace safety and sustainability. 

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Positive Perception of Term “All-Electric Home” Increases 12 Percentage Points in Recent Years, E Source Survey Finds

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Research from the utilities-focused research, consulting, and data science company shows positive shift in homeowner perceptions of electrification technologies, though cost remains a barrier to fuel-switching. 

BOULDER, Colo., Nov. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — E Source, a utilities-focused consulting, research, and data science company, has shared the results of its 2024 Residential Electrification Survey, including a shift in consumer attitudes toward electrification technologies in residential settings. The independent study, first conducted in 2021, fielded in April 2024 with over 10,000 residential homeowner utility customers in the United States and Canada.  

Designed and administered by the E Source Market Research team, the survey offers findings around: 

Consumer perceptions of electrification technologies: Over three-quarters of respondents believe that electricity is a safer home and appliance fuel source than natural gas, an increase from 2021. Despite shifting perceptions, cost remains a barrier to fuel-switching.Current ownership of electrification equipment: More respondents say they own electric equipment in 2024 compared to 2021, with electric cooktops and smart thermostats reported as the most common electric appliances.Readiness for adoption: While many respondents said they were unlikely to switch fuel sources for most home equipment, 27% expressed interest in taking steps to electrify all their appliances.

In other notable findings, positive perception of the term “all-electric home” increased from 40% in 2021 to 51% in 2024. Additionally, over one-third of respondents would prefer homes with only electric appliances when choosing their next residence, with 63% stating that gas appliances contribute to indoor air pollution, an increase from 51% in 2021.  

However, despite the growing interest in electrification, cost remains the largest barrier to fuel-switching, with 76% of respondents believing that switching fuel sources of any kind in their home appliances would be costly. 

Utilities today are navigating fast-paced technological advancements, transitioning to cleaner energy sources, managing tighter budgets, and looking to meet heightened customer expectations. A systematic and targeted approach to electrification is central to successfully addressing these challenges.

“Electrification holds tremendous potential along with risks. Utilities can realize that potential and mitigate the risks by understanding how to best engage their customers in the energy transition. With in-depth market research like our Residential Electrification Survey, utilities can understand perceptions of electrification to promote the value of new technologies based on customer needs, beliefs, and behaviors,” said Filomena Gogel, President of research and advisory at E Source.  

An overview of the insights is publicly available in a downloadable eBook here. Detailed findings are available in an industry report for members of the Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Strategy Service offered by E Source. 

About E Source 
E Source combines industry-leading research, data science, and consulting to help utilities make and implement better data-driven decisions that positively impact their customers, their bottom line, and our planet. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, E Source has teams across the US and Canada. Learn more at www.esource.com.

Media Contact:  
Adarsh Nalam, Director, Solutions Marketing and Communications  
adarsh_nalam@esource.com

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SOURCE E Source Companies LLC

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Ironclad Launches Jurist: an AI-Powered Assistant That Shows its Work

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The conversational AI assistant utilizes purpose-built multi-agent technology that works together to automate legal work, giving legal professionals a singular place to work with all the right tools and information in one seamless experience

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Ironclad, the leading digital contracting platform for modern businesses, today announced the public launch of a new conversational AI legal assistant, Ironclad Jurist. Jurist allows legal professionals to draft, edit, review, summarize, translate, and answer questions related to modern contracting. Jurist is the only AI-powered assistant purpose-built for lawyers that lets users create and iterate on any legal document with past company precedent, benchmarks, and real-time changes in the legal space—all in an online, fully editable .docx workspace.

Jurist, built on Ironclad’s open-source visual programming platform Rivet, offers users unprecedented transparency into AI decision-making within a contract by displaying agent actions and reasoning, complete with citations in its online research mode. Leveraging industry-leading prompt routing, specialized legal prompt engineering, and a sophisticated retrieval automation generation (RAG) approach that harnesses multiple top-tier LLMs, Jurist is transforming the landscape of AI-assisted legal work.

“Jurist has already eliminated hours of manual review from our document review process. Its intuitive interface lets us easily define our own parameters, transforming tasks like NDA reviews into a streamlined workflow,” said Katelyn Canning, Director and Head of Legal at Ocrolus. “What truly sets it apart is its ability to select the most appropriate AI model for each task behind the scenes, delivering useful results without requiring us to craft intricate prompts. This combination of power and simplicity has made it an indispensable tool for our legal team.”

After a rigorous five-month beta, which included in-house legal teams at companies like Ocrolus and Signifyd, and leading law firms including Gunderson Dettmer, Jurist is now generally available. With Ironclad Jurist, users can:

Perform legal work in one central place: Jurist provides a new surface for lawyers to work with, iterate, draft, edit, research, and ask questions, all within a single environment. Users can directly edit AI outputs—and write prompts for specific sections of documents to fine-tune contract language—in a native .docx editor.Personalize AI outputs with past documents: Jurist produces personalized drafts, reviews, and edits based on the context users provide, including templates and executed agreements.Access the latest legal knowledge from verified online sources: Users can stay current with the ever-evolving legal landscape from the most reputable online legal research sources.Verify actions taken by your team of agents: Jurist explains its decisions in real time and cites sources when answering prompts, empowering users to use what they create with confidence.Work in a responsible, privacy-forward environment: Jurist does not allow companies like OpenAI or Google to retain or train on customer data. Ironclad provides customers with complete enterprise-grade security and holds numerous certifications, including several ISOs. Ironclad is also compliant with GDPR, HIPAA, and the SOC 2 Type II Security Trust Criteria. To learn more about Ironclad’s security certifications, click here.

“Legal is the perfect application for LLMs, because LLMs are exceptionally good at working with unstructured data – which is the lion’s share of the types of documents lawyers work with,” said Ironclad Chief Product Officer Michel Feaster. “We built Jurist to help bridge this gap, and wanted to create something that was congruent with the ways that lawyers are already working. Lawyers need to be able to edit in real-time in one place, or be able to ask questions about specific parts of a contract, or compare and edit groups of documents at the same time. And because Ironclad has been building technology for lawyers and optimizing contracts for 10 years, our AI agents are fine tuned to be best in class at legal editing.”

“Using Jurist has helped give us a singular workplace to drastically speed up many kinds of legal work,” said Zuhair Saadat, Contracts Manager at Signifyd. “For example, performing an MNDA review or drafting custom clauses for an order form typically takes an hour to a day. Using Jurist, we could do this in minutes—in some cases seconds—depending on complexity. If I need to edit the output, translate it, or ask a question about it, I can do that right in the product without leaving. It reduces time spent on these kinds of tasks, saves money on attorney fees, and gives me a leg up. Whatever I’m doing, I never have to start from scratch.”

“We’ve released Jurist as a standalone product, built on Ironclad architecture, because we feel this will benefit the entire legal community—whether they already use Ironclad or not,” said Ironclad President Jeremy Smith. “We are committed to enabling legal teams with the products they need to drive tangible business impact, and we believe Jurist will make a lasting impact on the future of the legal field.”

To learn more about Jurist and try it for yourself, click here.

About Ironclad
Ironclad is the #1 contract lifecycle management platform for innovative companies, powering billions of contracts every year. L’Oréal, OpenAI, and other leading innovators use Ironclad to collaborate and negotiate on contracts, accelerate contracting while maintaining compliance, and turn contracts into critical carriers of operational business intelligence. It’s the only platform flexible enough to handle every type of contract workflow, whether a sales agreement, an HR agreement or a complex NDA. The company is backed by leading investors like Accel, Sequoia, Franklin Templeton, Y Combinator, and BOND. For more information, visit www.ironcladapp.com or follow us on LinkedIn and X.

Media Contact:
Paul Chalker
paul.chalker@ironcladhq.com

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SOURCE Ironclad Inc.

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Tom Atchison Honored as a Most Admired CEO by Denver Business Journal

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GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., Nov. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — National Corporate Housing is thrilled to announce that Tom Atchison, our esteemed Founder and Chief Executive Officer, has been honored with the Most Admired CEO Award by the Denver Business Journal. This prestigious award recognizes leaders in the Denver area who demonstrate exceptional leadership, vision, and community impact within their industries and beyond.

Under Tom’s visionary leadership, National Corporate Housing has achieved significant growth and success while maintaining a strong commitment to ethical business practices and a people-first culture. He has fostered an environment that prioritizes employee development, customer satisfaction, and industry-leading service.

“Tom exemplifies the highest standards of leadership, integrity, and Surprisingly Superior Service,” said Misty Gregarek, President of National Corporate Housing. “Part of what makes National so special is Tom’s incredible talent for identifying potential in people and providing them opportunities to excel. This recognition is a testament to his unwavering dedication to our company’s mission and to making a positive impact on our employees, customers, and the community.”

Tom was recognized along with 20 other executives Wednesday night at an award dinner at the Ritz Carlton in Denver. We congratulate Tom on this well-deserved honor and look forward to continued success under his exceptional leadership.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Heidi Hume, Vice President, Marketing
703-727-9124 | hhume@nationalcorporatehousing.com

About National Corporate Housing: At National, we turn complex temporary housing challenges into seamless solutions. As a global leader in customized corporate housing since 1999, we provide personalized, 360-degree services that ensure your employees feel at home, wherever they are in the world. With our extensive network and local expertise, we make the unfamiliar comfortable, delivering exceptional experiences that transform clients into lifelong partners.

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SOURCE NATIONAL CORPORATE HOUSING

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