Sustainability Reporting According to CSRD and CSDDD in Complex Value Chains : Mapping Upstream Environmental Aspects Related to Swedavia's Ground Services

The aviation sector generates approximately 2 % of global greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the most emission-intensive industries internationally. In addition to contributing to economic growth, airports also play a vital role in supporting the transition to a more sustainable aviation sector. Swedavia, which owns ten of Sweden's airports, has already made significant progress towards a fossil-free operation within its own organization and is also working to implement improvements among its stakeholders and partners. The EU has recently introduced two new directives, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), to create incentives for EU industrial actors that help achieve the union's sustainability and climate goals for 2050. CSRD requires companies to report on sustainability to increase transparency and accountability, thereby strengthening companies' ability to support a more sustainable development of the union's economy. CSDDD requires companies to take responsibility for human rights and environmental standards across their entire value chain, both within the EU and globally, marking a shift from previous voluntary measures to mandatory requirements. To ensure compliance with the spirit of these directives, Swedavia must undertake extensive data collection and analysis of its operations and all supply chain partners. This thesis, therefore, maps the key environmental aspects upstream in complex value chains in line with the new directives. The mapping is based on Swedavia's ground handling services from an upstream perspective. Connected to this mapping, research questions have been formulated, for which information is gathered through various approaches. A literature and document study is conducted to create a knowledge base on sustainability reporting regulations and other relevant EU-level directives deemed important for the study. Additionally, the literature and document study are used to map the environmental impact of selected ground handling areas, as a first step in the double materiality assessment. The double materiality assessment is based on the LEAP strategy, a method for evaluating materiality within an organization's operations and value chain. An interview study is also carried out to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges companies face in managing complex value chains and environmental aspects upstream. Furthermore, the thesis examines what drives environmental efforts and how Swedavia ensures an adequate environmental standard upstream in their value chain. The result chapter present several material impacts, risks, and opportunities for Swedavia's ground handling services in conjunction with the double materiality assessment. Additionally, it is discussed that double materiality assessments are complex due to the subjective nature of the evaluations. There are also challenges in assessing local and global environmental issues using the same assessment criteria, as some environmental issues can be both local and global. Furthermore, barriers and drivers for reducing environmental impact in upstream value chains are presented. Some of the barriers identified include complex and long supplier chains and challenges in information sharing between actors. Among the drivers are, among others, collaboration between actors and certifications. These barriers and drivers are discussed and analyzed within the theoretical framework, which reveals that Swedavia has the opportunity to reduce its environmental impact in the value chain by focusing its efforts on the actors with the greatest potential to create change. The design phase, in particular, emerges as a strategically important point, identified as a hotspot, where early decisions can have a significant impact on environmental efforts.