“Sustainability and artificial intelligence will set the agenda in the business world in 2024.”
Morten Laugesen, Business Economist at Sydbank.
The past years have made it clear how difficult it is to predict what will set the agenda in Danish business life.
We were just a few weeks into 2020 when a mysterious virus suddenly turned our daily lives upside down, while sending shockwaves through the global economy.
Nor were we far into 2022 when Russian tanks one early February morning rolled across the border into Ukraine. This marked the beginning of a war that has already had political and economic consequences that reach far beyond Ukraine’s borders.
2024 will certainly also offer unforeseen events that Danish companies must handle. In my view, however, two themes will almost inevitably occupy a significant space in Danish business life in the coming year: Sustainability and new technology. Several Danish companies have been working with sustainability for several years, but we are currently witnessing a clear gear shift, reflecting a storm of new regulations on the way that increases the demands on companies’ reporting in this area.
The new requirements are mainly from the EU’s directive on sustainability reporting, CSRD. For large, listed companies with over 500 employees, CSRD will come into force as we turn the calendar page to 2024, and in the following years, more large companies will be subject to the directive.
The Danish Business Authority estimates that a total of 2,300 Danish companies will be directly covered by CSRD. However, far more companies will be indirectly affected. The large companies need a range of information from their subcontractors when they are to account for their own work with sustainability. Therefore, many smaller companies will also be forced to work with sustainability reporting in the coming years.
In addition to sustainability, I am convinced that new technology will be a theme that will continuously occupy the business world in the coming year. Artificial intelligence is a technology that is making its way into Danish companies. Several Danish companies have worked with artificial intelligence for many years, but after the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, interest in this groundbreaking technology has virtually exploded.
In the wake of the launch of ChatGPT, many companies have spent the past year exploring how they can utilize artificial intelligence, and therefore I am convinced that in 2024 we will see many examples of how this new technology can be used to further lift productivity in Danish business life.