COBALT advised Neo Performance Materials Inc. on reviewing the sustainability reporting requirements of the European Union

COBALT advised Neo Performance Materials Inc. (NPM) regarding the sustainability reporting requirements of the European Union. NPM is a manufacturer of industrial materials (including rare earth metals and magnets) which also has two operations in Estonia – Silmet and the industrial magnets factory currently under development in Narva. The parent company of the group (NPM) is situated in Canada.

Our work consisted of providing the client with a detailed overview of the European Union’s sustainability reporting rules, which apply to the companies belonging to the group. From next year, these rules will be enforced on all large companies, and in the future, additional requirements shall be applied to large groups operating in EU even if their parent company is seated in a third country.

In the composed overview, in addition to bringing out the obligation of reporting, its starting dates as well as the standards of reporting, we also pointed out different possibilities for fulfilling the rules in practice (e.g. the possibility to present the data on several companies of the same group in one report). NPM as the client’s parent company is already compiling annual sustainability reports, but due to the new rules applicable in EU (so-called CSRD Directive) the client needed a clear overview of its obligations arising from them, which will help the client to decide whether and which data they need to additionally gather and publish. According to the client, the overview provided by COBALT was exactly what they needed.

The client was advised by Senior Associate Siim Vahtrus, who was assisted by Assistant Lawyer Siim Jürgens.