When sustainability assessment becomes a market factor

Sustainability requirements have long since ceased to determine solely how a product is developed. They are also increasingly influencing how companies raise capital, what demands customers and business partners place on them, and under what conditions products can succeed in the market.

For companies in the industrial bioeconomy in particular, it is therefore becoming increasingly important not to view regulatory developments in isolation. This is because requirements from capital and sales markets are becoming increasingly intertwined: sustainability reporting, product requirements, supply chain specifications, certifications and environmental claims sometimes draw on comparable or overlapping data and information – yet impose different requirements on how this data is collected and verified.

The new TransBIB guide “Regulatory Requirements for Capital and Sales Markets in Sustainability Assessment” provides guidance on this matter. It systematically classifies selected regulatory and market-related requirements according to whether they primarily concern the capital market or the sales market, and illustrates how these areas are interlinked.

These include, amongst others, regulatory frameworks such as CSRD and ESRS, the EU Taxonomy, SFDR, ESPR, PPWR and CSDDD . Overviews and classifications help to identify more quickly which requirements may be relevant to one’s own company, specific products or value chains.

What role does life-cycle assessment play?

The guide places particular emphasis on the question of where life cycle assessments – Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) – become relevant in the context of regulatory or market-related requirements.

It becomes clear that not every requirement calls for a full life cycle assessment. However, LCA results can provide an important data basis in many areas – for example, for sustainability information, environmental indicators, product-related evidence or the communication of environmental impacts.

In capital markets, for example, LCA data can be incorporated into sustainability and valuation processes. In consumer markets, it can contribute in particular to the assessment and demonstration of product characteristics and environmental impacts. LCA can thus form an important link between product development, regulatory requirements and market-related information needs.

Finding your bearings in a dynamic environment

The challenge for businesses lies not only in the sheer volume of requirements. The regulatory landscape itself is also changing rapidly. Regulations are being amended, scopes of application are shifting, and reporting obligations are being reorganised. This guide reflects the legal and informational status as at September 2026 and is therefore expressly intended as guidance – not as legal advice.

For businesses, this means it is worth checking at an early stage what sustainability information is required, where relevant data is already available, and which methods are suitable for collecting and processing it. Particularly in the case of bio-based products, a well-structured data foundation can help to address requirements from different areas more efficiently.

The guide therefore combines regulatory classification with the question of what role environmental assessment and LCA can play in practice – and thus provides an introduction for companies, research institutions and other stakeholders in the industrial bioeconomy.