Pragmatic and future-proof DMA process – Ewals Cargo Care

 Overview

Company Description

Ewals Cargo Care is a family-owned transportation company, which is founded in 1906 by Alfons Ewals. The main office is found in Tegelen near Venlo. Besides this, Ewals has 32 other offices in Europe, which lead to a local presence in 15 European countries with over 2500 employees. Ewals has grown into a strong international player. Our customers are offered a broad spectrum of logistics products ranging from full- and part loads to Control Tower services. Especially, but certainly not exclusively, we are known for our European multimodal network that includes more than 4500 Mega Huckepack XL(S) trailers. In addition, we can rely on a solid network of partners. Ewals is also continuously improving work processes and investing in the development of our employees. Ewals sees integrating ESG into its strategy essential to make the company ready for the future (generations).

Project Description

Ewals initially created a 3 phase ESG Reporting Roadmap to comply in 2026 with Corporate sustainability Directive (CSRD) and related European Sustainability Reporting Standard (ESRS). Why ESG Report 1) base for monitoring ESG strategy 2) be transparent towards its stakeholders about it sustainability performance 3) comply with law & legislation;

Based on an intermediate audit by KPMG in 2024, it was concluded that there are a few aspects where Ewals doesn’t comply with ESRS, amongst other: steps taken in the Double Materiality Assessment/ KPMG observed that the Double Materiality Assessment performed by Ewals is not fully aligned with the prescribed steps in the ESRS-standards. This makes sense as Ewals did it’s DMA prior to official publishment of ESRS. Remarks:

• Ewals’ value chain is not identified and documented. 
• Impacts, Risks and Opportunities (IROs) have been identified to an extent, however not in line with the prescribed methodology in the ESRS.
• The assessment of IROs is not in line with the prescribed methodology in the ESRS .
• Documentation of the DMA process and corresponding outcomes is already in place, but not yet in the required level of detail.

In February 2025 the European Comité presented the Omnibus. A package of proposals to amend and downsize several sustainability guidelines. Assumed two years delay, it’s the proper timing to align the Double materiality Assessment (DMA) process with the current European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) as it is expected that nothing will change according to new proposal. Create a pragmatic DMA process which can be implemented in the day-to-day processes at Ewals;

Goals of the project

Your primary task is to create a DMA process which can be implemented in the day-to-day processes at Ewals in a pragmatic way and complies with current law & legislation, and which is able to grow with ‘new’ demands made by the EU; 

• Process for the initial DMA; 
• Process for recurring/ periodic DMA updates;

Deliverables

• Exploratory research (overview of best-practices of DMA process (in industry);
• Describe value chain + review implications for stakeholder engagement; 
• Create DMA process; 
• Create a DMA manual;

DMA manual in Powerpoint. recommended to create a process documentation or DMA report to secure the audit trail of the DMA process. The complete DMA process, including involved stakeholders, scoping decisions, other relevant decisions made, approach and other required steps; Documented Process steps/ Process flow in Visio (initial DMA and DMA updates); 

Create tool in Excel to manage the DMA process;

• Develop Impacts, Risks and opportunities (IROs) register (including translation of Ewals to ESRS justifications for when topics are not considered material).

Knowledge

• The student is encouraged to take a proactive approach in problem-solving, consider alternative methods where necessary, and communicate your findings clearly and concisely.
•  Familiar with ESG and ESG Reporting (process);
• Some high-level knowledge about CSRD and ESRS;

 More information: escf@tue.nl