• Fewer than half of organisations surveyed are familiar with the EU Green Deal.

• Fewer than half of organisations surveyed consider they are prepared for the EU Green Deal.

• Organisations want support to understand the implications of the Green Deal from a tax and operational perspective.

• The largest perceived challenges to implementing the EU Green Deal are a lack of awareness and a lack of organisational skills to maximise the benefits.

– For example, one-third of respondents have made environmental improvements without investigating the availability of financial incentives.

• Responsibility for Green Deal-related issues is spread across organisations, with little coordination.

• Key areas of concern are transport, manufacturing and water consumption, with many companies having taken no action to convert to cleaner energy sources, reduce emissions or conserve water.

The EU Green Deal seeks to drive the fundamental business and value-chain transformation needed to address the climate emergency through its framework of regulation, incentives and levies. Our survey suggests that a majority of businesses lack a comprehensive strategy to respond to all the dimensions of the EU Green Deal.

Tax teams, in particular, are set to play an important role in maximising opportunities for transformation. It seems likely that tax departments will need to communicate with a wider range of stakeholders and will be more heavily involved in a range of ESG-related areas including impact assessment of environmental taxes, carbon footprint, reporting and tax transparency. But the EU Green Deal is not just about taxes. It will affect procurement, supply-chain management, manufacturing, finance, ESG and human resources departments. These teams must work together to align their approach. To make the most of the incentives available for low-carbon transformation, and mitigate the impact of Green Deal levies, it is critical for companies to embrace a comprehensive, adaptive, long-term, transformational mind set.

 PwC Green Deal Survey

More information here (in Czech language only).