Further reading
Establish a Sustainable ESG Reporting Program
Strengthen corporate performance by implementing a holistic and proactive reporting approach.
Analyst Perspective
The shift toward stakeholder capitalism cannot be pinned on one thing; rather, it is a convergence of forces that has reshaped attitudes toward the corporation. Investor attention on responsible investing has pushed corporations to give greater weight to the achievement of corporate goals beyond financial performance.
Reacting to the new investor paradigm and to the wider systemic risk to the financial system of climate change, global regulators have rapidly mobilized toward mandatory climate-related disclosure.
IT will be instrumental in meeting the immediate regulatory mandate, but their role is much more far-reaching. IT has a role to play at the leadership table shaping strategy and assisting the organization to deliver on purpose-driven goals.
Delivering high-quality, relevant, and consistent disclosure is the key to unlocking and driving sustainable corporate performance. IT leaders should not underestimate the influence they have in selecting the right technology and data model to support ESG reporting and ultimately support top-line growth.
Yaz Palanichamy
Senior Research Analyst
Info-Tech Research Group
Donna Bales
Principal Research Director
Info-Tech Research Group
Executive Summary
Your Challenge
Your organization needs to define a ESG reporting strategy that is driven by corporate purpose.
Climate-related disclosure mandates are imminent; you need to prepare for them by building a sustainable reporting program now.
There are many technologies available to support your ESG program plans. How do you choose the one that is right for your organization?
|
Common Obstacles
Knowing how to narrow down ESG efforts to material ESG issues for your organization.
Understanding the key steps to build a sustainable ESG reporting program.
Assessing and solving for data gaps and data quality issues.
Being aware of the tools and best practices available to support regulatory and performance reporting.
|
Info-Tech’s Approach
Learn best-practice approaches to develop and adopt an ESG reporting program approach to suit your organization’s unique needs.
Understand the key features, tooling options, and vendors in the ESG software market.
Learn through analyst insights, case studies, and software reviews on best-practice approaches and tool options.
|
Info-Tech Insight
Implementing a robust reporting program takes time. Start early, remain focused, and plan to continually improve data quality and collection and performance metrics
Putting “E,” “S,” and “G” in context
Corporate sustainability depends on managing ESG factors well
Environmental, social, and governance are the components of a sustainability framework that is used to understand and measure how an organization impacts or is affected by society as a whole.
Human activities, particularly fossil fuel burning since the middle of the twentieth century, have increased greenhouse gas concentration, resulting in observable changes to the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere. The “E” in ESG relates to the positive and negative impacts an organization may have on the environment, such as the energy it takes in and the waste it discharges.
The “S” in ESG is the most ambiguous component in the framework, as social impact relates not only to risks but also to prosocial behavior. It’s the most difficult to measure but can have significant financial and reputational impact on corporations if material and poorly managed.
The “G” in ESG is foundational to the realization of “S” and “E.” It encompasses how well an organization integrates these considerations into the business and how well the organization engages with key stakeholders, receives feedback, and is transparent with its intentions.
The impact of ESG factors on investment decisions
Alleviate Investment Risk
Organizational Reputation: Seventy-four percent of those surveyed were concerned that failing to improve their corporate ESG performance would negatively impact their organization’s branding and overall reputation in the market (Intelex, 2022).
Ethical Business Compliance: Adherence to well-defined codes of business conduct and implementation of anti-corruption and anti-bribery practices is a great way to distinguish between organizations with good/poor governance intentions.
Shifting Consumer Preferences: ESG metrics can also largely influence consumer preferences in buying behavior intentions. Research from McKinsey shows that “upward of 70 percent” of consumers surveyed on purchases in multiple industries said they would pay an additional 5 percent for a green product if it met the same performance standards as a nongreen alternative (McKinsey, 2019).
Responsible Supply Chain Management: The successful alignment of ESG criteria with supply chain operations can lead to several benefits (e.g. producing more sustainable product offerings, maintaining constructive relationships with more sustainability-focused suppliers).
Environmental Stewardship: The growing climate crisis has forced companies of all sizes to rethink how they plan their corporate environmental sustainability practices.
Compliance With Regulatory Guidelines: An increasing emphasis on regulations surrounding ESG disclosure rates may result in some institutional investors taking a more proactive stance toward ESG-related initiatives.
Sustaining Competitive Advantage: Given today’s globalized economy, many businesses are constantly confronted with environmental issues (e.g. water scarcity, air pollution) as well as social problems (e.g. workplace wellness issues). Thus, investment in ESG factors is simply a part of maintaining competitive advantage.
Leaders increasingly see ESG as a competitive differentiator
The perceived importance of ESG has dramatically increased from 2020 to 2023
In a survey commissioned by Schneider Electric, researchers categorized the relative importance of ESG planning initiatives for global IT business leaders. ESG was largely identified as a critical factor in sustaining competitive advantage against competitors and maintaining positive investor/public relations.
Source: S&P Market Intelligence, 2020; N=825 IT decision makers
“74% of finance leaders say investors increasingly use nonfinancial information in their decision-making.”
Source: EY, 2020
Regulatory pressure to report on carbon emission is building globally
The Evolving Regulatory Landscape
Canada
- Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) NI 51-107 Disclosure of Climate-related Matters
United States
- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 33-11042 – The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors
- SEC 33-11038 Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure
- Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule (5605(f))
Europe
- European Commission Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR)
- European Commission EU Supply Chain Act
- The German Supply Chain Act (GSCA)
- Financial Conduct Authority UK Proposal (DP 21/4) Sustainability Disclosure Requirements and investment labels
- UK Modern Slavery Act, 2015
New Zealand
- The Financial Sector (Climate-related Disclosures and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021
Accurate ESG reporting will be critical to meet regulatory requirements
ESG reporting is the disclosure of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data via qualitative and quantitative reports.
It is how organizations make their sustainability commitments and strategies transparent to stakeholders.
For investors it provides visibility into a company's ESG activities, enabling them to align investments to their values and avoid companies that cause damage to the environment or are offside on social and governance issues.
Despite the growing practice of ESG reporting, reporting standards and frameworks are still evolving and the regulatory approach for climate-related disclosure is inconsistent across jurisdictions, making it challenging for organizations to develop a robust reporting program.
|
|
“Environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments are at the core a data problem.” Source: EY, 2022
|
|
However, organizations will struggle to meet reporting requirements
Despite the commitment to support an ESG Initiative, less than a quarter of IT professionals say their organization can accurately report on the impact of its ESG initiatives, and 44% say their reporting on impacts is not accurate.
Reporting accuracy was even worse for reporting on carbon footprint with 46% saying their organization could not report on its carbon footprint accurately. This despite most IT professionals saying they are working to support environmental mandates.
Global sustainability rankings based on ESG dimensions
Global Country Sustainability Ranking Map
Country Sustainability Scores (CSR) as of October 2021
Scores range from 1 (poor) to 10 (best)
Source: Robeco, 2021
ESG Performance Rankings From Select Countries
Top ESG and sustainability performer
Finland has ranked consistently as a leading sustainability performer in recent years. Finland's strongest ESG pillar is the environment, and its environmental ranking of 9.63/10 is the highest out of all 150 countries.
Significant score deteriorations
Brazil, France, and India are among the countries whose ESG score rankings have deteriorated significantly in the past three years.
Increasing political tensions and risks as well as aftershock effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. high inequality and insufficient access to healthcare and education) have severely impacted Brazil’s performance across the governance and social pillars of the ESG framework, ultimately causing its overall ESG score to drop to a CSR value of 5.31.
Largest gains and losses in ESG scores
Canada has received worse scores for corruption, political risk, income inequality, and poverty over the past three years.
Taiwan has seen its rankings improve in terms of overall ESG scores. Government effectiveness, innovation, a strong semiconductor manufacturing market presence, and stronger governance initiatives have been sufficient to compensate for a setback in income and economic inequality.
Source: Robeco, 2021
Establish a Sustainable Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Reporting Program
Blueprint benefits
Business Benefits
- Clarity on technical and organizational gaps in the organization’s ability to deliver ESG reporting strategy.
- Transparency on the breadth of the change program, internal capabilities needed, and accountable owners.
- Reduced likelihood of liability.
- Improved corporate performance and top-line growth.
- Confidence that the organization is delivering high-quality, comprehensive ESG disclosure.
IT Benefits
- Understanding of IT’s role as strategic enabler for delivering high-quality ESG disclosure and sustainable corporate performance.
- Transparency on primary data gaps and technology and tools needed to support the ESG reporting strategy.
- Clear direction of material ESG risks and how to prioritize implementation efforts.
- Awareness of tool selection options.
Blueprint deliverables
Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:
|
Leverage this presentation deck to improve corporate performance by implementing a holistic and proactive ESG reporting program.
|
|
As you work through the activities, use this workbook to document decisions and rationale and to sketch your materiality map.
|
|
Use this implementation plan to address organizational, technology, and tooling gaps.
|
|
Leverage Info-Tech’s RFP Template to source vendors to fill technology gaps.
|
Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs
DIY Toolkit
"Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful."
Guided Implementation
"Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track."
Workshop
"We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place."
Consulting
"Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."
Diagnostics and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options.
Guided Implementation
A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.
A typical GI is 8 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.
What does a typical GI on this topic look like?
Workshop Overview
| |
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Day 5 |
Activities
|
Determine Material ESG Factors
1.1 Review ESG drivers.
1.2 Identify key stakeholders and what drives their behavior.
1.3 Discuss materiality frameworks options and select baseline model.
1.4 Identify material risks and combine and categorize risks.
1.5 Map material risks on materiality assessment map.
|
Define Performance and Reporting Metrics
2.1 Understand common program metrics for each ESG component.
2.2 Consider and select program metrics.
2.3 Discuss ESG risk metrics.
2.4 Develop SMART metrics.
2.5 Surface regulatory reporting obligations.
|
Assess Data and Implementation Gaps
3.1 Assess magnitude and prioritize data gaps.
3.2 Discuss high-level implementation considerations and organizational gaps.
|
Software and Tooling Options
4.1 Review technology options.
4.2 Brainstorm technology and tooling options and the feasibility of implementing.
4.3 Prepare implementation plan.
4.4 Draft ESG reporting program communication.
4.5 Optional – Review software selection options.
|
Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite)
5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days.
5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps.
|
Deliverables |
1. Customized list of key stakeholders and material ESG risks
2. Materiality assessment map
|
1. SMART metrics
2. List of regulatory reporting obligations
|
1. High-priority data gaps
2. High-level implementation considerations
|
1. Technology and tooling opportunities
2. Implementation Plan
3. ESG Reporting Communication
|
1. ESG Reporting Workbook
2. Implementation Plan
|
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com
1-888-670-8889
Phase 1
Explore ESG Reporting
This phase will walk you through the following:
- Define key stakeholders and material ESG factors.
- Identify material ESG issues.
- Develop SMART program metrics.
- List reporting obligations.
- Surface high-level data gaps.
- Record high-level implementation considerations.
This phase involves the following participants: CIO, CCO, CSO, business leaders, legal, marketing and communications, head of ESG reporting, and any dedicated ESG team members
Practical steps for ESG disclosure
Measuring and tracking incremental change among dimensions such as carbon emissions reporting, governance, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) requires organizations to acquire, analyze, and synthesize data from beyond their internal organizational ecosystems
1.1 Ensure your reporting requirements are comprehensive
This section will walk you through some key considerations for establishing your ESG reporting strategy. The first step in this process is to identify the scope of your reporting program.
Defining the scope of your reporting program
- Stakeholder requirements: When developing a reporting program consider all your stakeholder needs as well as how they want to consume the information.
- Materiality assessment: Conduct a materiality assessment to identify the material ESG issues most critical to your organization. Organizations will need to report material risks to internal and external stakeholders.
- Purpose-driven goals: Your ESG reporting must include metrics to measure performance against your purpose-driven strategy.
- Regulatory requirements & industry: Work with your compliance and legal teams to understand which reporting requirements apply. Don’t forget requirements under the “S” and “G” components. Some jurisdictions require DEI reporting, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US recently announced cybersecurity disclosure of board expertise and management oversight practices.
Factor 1: Stakeholder requirements
Work with key stakeholders to determine what to report
Evaluate your stakeholder landscape
Consider each of these areas of the ESG Stakeholder Wheel and identify your stakeholders. Once stakeholders are identified, consider how the ESG factors might be perceived by delving into the ESG factors that matter to each stakeholder and what drives their behavior.
Determine ESG impact on stakeholders
Review materiality assessment frameworks for your industry to surface ESG factors for your segment and stakeholder group(s).
Perform research and analysis of the competition and stakeholder trends, patterns, and behavior
Support your findings with stakeholder interviews.
Stakeholders will prioritize ESG differently. Understanding their commitment is a critical success factor.
Many of your stakeholders care about ESG commitments…
27%: Support for social and environmental proposals at shareholder meetings of US companies rose to 27% in 2020 (up from 21% in 2017).
Source: Sustainable Investments Institute, 2020.
79%: of investors consider ESG risks and opportunities an important factor in investment decision making.
Source: “Global Investor Survey,” PwC, 2021.
...Yet
33%: of survey respondents cited that a lack of attention or support from senior leadership was one of the major barriers preventing their companies from making any progress on ESG issues.
Source: “Consumer Intelligence Survey,” PwC, 2021.
Info-Tech Insight
To succeed with ESG reporting it is essential to understand who we hold ourselves accountable to and to focus ESG efforts in areas with the optimal balance between people, the planet, and profits
Activity 1: Define stakeholders
Input: Internal documentation (e.g. strategy, annual reports), ESG Stakeholder Wheel
Output: List of key stakeholders and applicable ESG factors
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders
2 hours
- Using the ESG Stakeholder Wheel as a baseline, consider the breadth of your organization’s value chain and write down all your stakeholders.
- Discuss what drives their behavior. Be as detailed as you can be. For example, if it’s a consumer, delve into their age group and the factors that may drive their behavior.
- List the ESG factors that may be important to each stakeholder.
- Write down the communication channels you expect to use to communicate ESG information to this stakeholder group.
- Rate the priority of this stakeholder to your organization.
- Record this information in ESG Reporting Workbook.
- Optional – consider testing the results with a targeted survey.
Download the ESG Reporting Workbook
Activity 1: Example
Factor 2: Materiality assessments
Conduct a materiality assessment to inform company strategy and establish targets and metrics for risk and performance reporting
The concept of materiality as it relates to ESG is the process of gaining different perspectives on ESG issues and risks that may have significant impact (both positive and negative) on or relevance to company performance.
The objective of a materiality assessment is to identify material ESG issues most critical to your organization by looking at a broad range of social and environmental factors. Its purpose is to narrow strategic focus and enable an organization to assess the impact of financial and non-financial risks aggregately.
It helps to make the case for ESG action and strategy, assess financial impact, get ahead of long-term risks, and inform communication strategies.
Organizations can use assessment tools from Sustainalytics or GRI, SASB Standards, or guidance and benchmarking information from industry associations to help assess ESG risks .
Info-Tech Insight
The materiality assessment informs your risk management approach. Material ESG risks identified should be integrated into your organization’s risk reporting framework.
Supplement your materiality assessment with stakeholder interviews
|
How you communicate the results of your ESG assessment may vary depending on whether you’re communicating to internal or external stakeholders and their communication delivery preferences.
|
Using the results from your materiality assessment, narrow down your key stakeholders list. Enhance your strategy for disclosure and performance measurement through direct and indirect stakeholder engagement.
Decide on the most suitable format to reach out to these stakeholders. Smaller groups lend themselves to interviews and forums, while surveys and questionnaires work well for larger groups.
Develop relevant questions tailored to your company and the industry and geography you are in.
Once you receive the results, decide how and when you will communicate them.
Determine how they will be used to inform your strategy.
|
Steps to determine material ESG factors
Step 1
Select framework
Review reporting frameworks and any industry guidance and select a baseline reporting framework to begin your materiality assessment.
|
Step 2
Begin to narrow down
Work with stakeholders to narrow down your list to a shortlist of high-priority material ESG issues.
|
Step 3
Consolidate and group
Group ESG issues under ESG components, your company’s strategic goals, or the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
|
Step 4
Rate the risks of ESG factors
Assign an impact and likelihood scale for each risk and assign your risk threshold.
|
Step 5
Map
Use a material map framework such as GRI or SASB or Info-Tech’s materiality map to visualize your material ESG risks.
|
Materiality assessment
The materiality assessment is a strategic tool used to help identify, refine, and assess the numerous ESG issues in the context of your organization.
There is no universally accepted approach to materiality assessments. Although the concept of materiality is often embedded within a reporting standard, your approach to conducting the materiality assessment does not need to link to a specific reporting standard. Rather, it can be used as a baseline to develop your own.
To arrive at the appropriate outcome for your organization, careful consideration is needed to tailor the materiality assessment to meet your organization’s objectives.
When defining the scope of your materiality assessment consider:
- Your corporate ESG purpose and sustainability strategy
- Your audience and what drives their behavior
- The relevance of the ESG issues to your organization. Do they impact strategy? Increase risk?
- The boundaries of your materiality assessment (e.g. regions or business departments, supply chains it will cover)
- Whether you want to assess from a double materiality perspective
Consider your stakeholders and your industry when selecting your materiality assessment tool – this will ensure you provide relevant disclosure information to the stakeholders that need it.
Double materiality is an extension of the financial concept of materiality and considers the broader impact of an organization on the world at large – particularly to people and climate.
Prioritize and categorize
Using internal information (e.g. strategy, surveys) and external information (e.g. competitors, industry best practices), create a longlist of ESG issues.
Discuss and narrow down the list. Be sure to consider opportunities – not just material risks!
Group the issues under ESG components or defined strategic goals for your organization. Another option is to use the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to categorize.
Differentiate ESG factors that you already measure and report.
The benefit of clustering is that it shows related topics and how they may positively or negatively influence one another.
Internal risk disclosure should not be overlooked
Bank of America estimates ESG disputes have cost S&P companies more than $600 billion in market capitalization in the last seven years alone.
ESG risks are good predictors of future risks and are therefore key inputs to ensure long-term corporate success.
Regardless of the size of your organization, it’s important to build resilience against ESG risks.
To protect an organization against an ESG incident and potential liability risk, ESG risks should be treated like any other risk type and incorporated into risk management and internal reporting practices, including climate scenario analysis.
Some regulated entities will be required to meet climate-related financial disclosure expectations, and sound risk management practices will be prescribed through regulatory guidance. However, all organizations should instill sound risk practices.
ESG risk management done right will help protect against ESG mishaps that can be expensive and damaging while demonstrating commitment to stakeholders that have influence over all corporate performance.
Source: GreenBiz, 2022.
IT has a role to play to provide the underlying data and technology to support good risk decisions.
Visualize your material risks
Leverage industry frameworks or use Info-Tech’s materiality map to visualize your material ESG risks.
|
GRI’s Materiality Matrix
|
SASB’s Materiality Map
|
Info-Tech’s Materiality Map
|
Activity 2: Materiality assessment
Input: ESG corporate purpose or any current ESG metrics; Customer satisfaction or employee engagement surveys; Materiality assessment tools from SASB, Sustainalytics, GRI, or industry frameworks; Outputs from stakeholder outreach/surveys
Output: Materiality map, a list of material ESG issues
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Participants from marketing and communications
2-3 hour
- Begin by reviewing various materiality assessment frameworks to agree on a baseline framework. This will help to narrow down a list of topics that are relevant to your company and industry.
- As a group, discuss the potential impact and start listing material issues. At first the list will be long, but the group will work collectively to prioritize and consolidate the list.
- Begin to combine and categorize the results by aligning them to your ESG purpose and strategic pillars.
- Treat each ESG issue as a risk and map against the likelihood and impact of the risk.
- Map the topics on your materiality map. Most of the materiality assessment tools have materiality maps – you may choose to use their map.
- Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.
Download the ESG Reporting Workbook
Case Study: Novartis
- INDUSTRY: Pharmaceuticals
- SOURCE: Novartis, 2022
Novartis, a leading global healthcare company based in Switzerland, stands out as a leader in providing medical consultancy services to address the evolving needs of patients worldwide. As such, its purpose is to use science and technologically innovative solutions to address some of society’s most debilitating, challenging, and ethically significant healthcare issues.
The application of Novartis’ materiality assessment process in understanding critical ESG topics important to their shareholders, stakeholder groups, and society at large enables the company to better quantify references to its ESG sustainability metrics.
Novartis applies its materiality assessment process to better understand relevant issues affecting its underlying business operations across its entire value chain. Overall, employing Novartis’s materiality assessment process helps the company to better manage its societal, environmental, and economic impacts, thus engaging in more socially responsible governance practices.
Novartis’ materiality assessment is a multitiered process that includes three major elements:
- Identifying key stakeholders, which involves a holistic analysis of internal colleagues and external stakeholders.
- Collecting quantitative feedback and asking relevant stakeholders to rank a set of issues (e.g. climate change governance, workplace culture, occupational health and safety) and rate how well Novartis performs across each of those identified issues.
- Eliciting qualitative insights by coordinating interviews and workshops with survey participants to better understand why the issues brought up during survey sessions were perceived as important.
Results
In 2021, Novartis had completed its most recent materiality assessment. From this engagement, both internal and external stakeholders had ranked as important eight clusters that Novartis is impacting on from an economic, societal, and environmental standpoint. The top four clusters were patient health and safety, access to healthcare, innovation, and ethical business practices.
Factor 3: ESG program goals
Incorporate ESG performance metrics that support your ESG strategy
Another benefit of the materiality assessment is that it helps to make the case for ESG action and provides key information for developing a purpose-led strategy.
An internal ESG strategy should drive toward company-specific goals such as green-house gas emission targets, use of carbon neutral technologies, focus on reusable products, or investment in DEI programs.
Most organizations focus on incremental goals of reducing negative impacts to existing operations or improving the value to existing stakeholders rather than transformative goals.
Yet, a strategy that is authentic and aligned with key stakeholders and long-term goals will bring sustainable value.
The strategy must be supported by an accountability and performance measurement framework such as SMART metrics.
A fulsome reporting strategy should include performance metrics
Activity 3: SMART metrics
Input: ESG corporate purpose or any current ESG metrics, Outputs from activities 1 and 2, Internally defined metrics (i.e. risk metrics or internal reporting requirements)
Output: SMART metrics
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Risk officer/Risk leaders, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Participants from marketing and communications
1-2 hours
- Document a list of appropriate metrics to assess the success of your ESG program.
- Use the sample metrics listed in the table on the next slide as a starting point.
- Fill in the chart to indicate the:
- Name of the success metric
- Method for measuring success
- Baseline measurement
- Target measurement
- Actual measurements at various points throughout the process of improving the risk management program
- A deadline for each metric to meet the target measurement
- Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.
Download the ESG Reporting Workbook
Sample ESG metrics
Leverage industry resources to help define applicable metrics
Environmental
- Greenhouse gas emissions – total corporate
- Carbon footprint – percent emitted and trend
- Percentage of air and water pollution
- Renewable energy share per facility
- Percentage of recycled material in a product
- Ratio of energy saved to actual use
- Waste creation by weight
- Circular transition indicators
Social
- Rates of injury
- Lost time incident rate
- Proportion of spend on local suppliers
- Entry-level wage vs. local minimum wage
- Percentage of management who identify with specific identity groups (i.e. gender and ethnic diversity)
- Percentage of suppliers screened for accordance to ESG vs. total number of suppliers
- Consumer responsiveness
Governance
- Annual CEO compensation compared to median
- Percentage of employees trained in conflict-of-interest policy
- Number of data breaches using personally identifiable information (PII)
- Number of incidents relating to management corruption
- Percentage of risks with mitigation plans in place
Activity 3: Develop SMART project metrics
1-3 hours
Attach metrics to your goals to gauge the success of the ESG program.
Sample Metrics
Factor 4: Regulatory reporting obligations
Identify your reporting obligations
High-level overview of reporting requirements:
Refer to your legal and compliance team for the most up-to-date and comprehensive requirements.
The focus of regulators is to move to mandatory reporting of material climate-related financial information.
There is some alignment to the TCFD* framework, but there is a lack of standardization in terms of scope across jurisdictions.
*TCFD is the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.
Activity 4: Regulatory obligations
Input: Corporate strategy documents; Compliance registry or internal governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) tool
Output: A list of regulatory obligations
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Legal Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders
1-2 hours
- Begin by listing the jurisdictions in which you operate or plan to operate.
- For each jurisdiction, list any known current or future regulatory requirements. Consider all ESG components.
- Log whether the requirements are mandatory or voluntary and the deadline to report.
- Write any details about reporting framework; for example, if a reporting framework such as TCFD is prescribed.
- Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.
Download the ESG Reporting Workbook
1.2 Assess impact and weigh options
Once the scope of your ESG reporting framework has been identified, further assessment is needed to determine program direction and to understand and respond to organizational impact.
Key factors for further assessment and decisions include
- Reporting framework options. Consider mandated reporting frameworks and any industry standards when deciding your baseline reporting framework. Strive to have a common reporting methodology that serves all your reporting needs: regulatory, corporate, shareholders, risk reporting, etc.
- Perform gap analysis. The gap analysis will reveal areas where data may need to be sourced or where tools or external assistance may be needed to help deliver your reporting strategy.
- Organizational impact and readiness. The gap analysis will help to determine whether your current operating model can support the reporting program or whether additional resources, tools, or infrastructure will be needed.
1.2.1 Decide on baseline reporting framework
1. Determine the appropriate reporting framework for your organization
Reporting standards are available to enable relevant, high-quality, and comparable information. It’s the job of the reporting entity to decide on the most suitable framework for their organization.
The most established standard for sustainability reporting is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which has supported sustainability reporting for over 20 years.
The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) was created by the Financial Stability Board to align ESG disclosure with financial reporting. Many global regulators support this framework.
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is developing high-quality, understandable, and enforceable global standards using the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) as a baseline. It is good practice to use SASB Standards until the ISSB standards are available.
2. Decide which rating agencies you will use and why they are important
ESG ratings are provided by third-party agencies and are increasingly being used for financing and transparency to investors. ESG ratings provide both qualitative and quantitative information.
However, there are multiple providers, so organizations need to consider which ones are the most important and how many they want to use.
Some of the most popular rating agencies include Sustainalytics, MSCI, Bloomberg, Moody's, S&P Global, and CDP.
Reference Appendix Below
1.2.2 Determine data gaps
The ESG reporting mandate is built on the assumption of consistent, good-quality data
To meet ESG objectives, corporations are challenged with collecting non-financial data from across functional business and geographical locations and from their supplier base and supply chains.
One of the biggest impediments to ESG implementation is the lack of high-quality data and of mature processes and tools to support data collection.
An important step for delivering reporting requirements is to perform a gap analysis early on to surface gaps in the primary data needed to deliver your reporting strategy.
The output of this exercise will also inform and help prioritize implementation, as it may show that new data sets need to be sourced or tools purchased to collect and aggregate data.
Conduct a gap analysis to determine gaps in primary data
Activity 5: Gap analysis
Input: Business (ESG) strategy, Data inventory (if exists), Output from Activity 1: Key stakeholders, Output from Activity 2: Materiality map, Output of Activity 3: SMART metrics, Output of Activity 4: Regulatory obligations
Output: List of high-priority data gaps
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Legal Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Data analysts
1-3 hours
- Using the outputs from activities 1-4, list your organization’s ESG issues in order of priority. You may choose to develop your priority list by stakeholder group or by material risks.
- List any defined SMART metric from Activity 3.
- Evaluate data availability and quality of the data (if existing) as well as any impediments to sourcing the data.
- Make note if this is a common datapoint, i.e. would you disclose this data in more than one report?
- Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.
Download the ESG Reporting Workbook
1.3 Take a holistic implementation approach
Currently, 84 percent of businesses don’t integrate their ESG performance with financial and risk management reporting.
Source: “2023 Canadian ESG Reporting Insights,” PwC.
When implementing an ESG reporting framework, it is important not to implement in silos but to take a strategic approach that considers the evolving nature of ESG and the link to value creation and sound decision making.
Key implementation considerations include
- Setting clear metrics and targets. Key performance indicators (KPIs) and key risk indicators (KRIs) are used to measure ESG factor performance. It’s essential that they are relevant and are constructed using high-quality data. Your performance metrics should be continually assessed and adapted as your ESG program evolves.
- Data challenges. Without good-quality data it is impossible to accurately measure ESG performance, generate actionable insights on ESG performance and risk, and provide informative metrics to investors and other stakeholders. Design your data model to be flexible and digital where possible to enable data interoperability.
- Architectural approach. IT will play a key role in the design of your reporting framework, including the decision on whether to build, buy, or deliver a hybrid solution. Every organization will build their reporting program to suit their unique needs; however, taking a holistic and proactive approach will support and sustain your strategy long term.
1.3.1 Metrics and targets for climate-related disclosure
“The future of sustainability reporting is digital – and tagged.”
Source: “XBRL Is Coming,” Novisto, 2022.
In the last few years, global regulators have proposed or effected legislation requiring public companies to disclose climate-related information.
Yet according to Info-Tech’s 2023 Trends and Priorities survey, most IT professionals expect to support environmental mandates but are not prepared to accurately report on their organization’s carbon footprint.
IT groups have a critical role to play in helping organizations develop strategic plans to meet ESG goals, measure performance, monitor risks, and deliver on disclosure requirements.
To future-proof your reporting structure, your data should be readable by humans and machines.
eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) tagging is mandated in several jurisdictions for financial reporting, and several reporting frameworks are adopting XBRL for sustainability reporting so that non-financial and financial disclosure frameworks are aligned.
Example environmental metrics
- Amount of scope 1, 2, or 3 GHG emissions
- Total energy consumption
- Total water consumption
- Progress toward net zero emission
- Percentage of recycled material in a product
1.3.1 Metrics and targets for social disclosure
“59% of businesses only talk about their positive performance, missing opportunities to build trust with stakeholders through balanced and verifiable ESG reporting.”
Source: “2023 Canadian ESG Reporting Insights,” PwC.
To date, regulatory focus has been on climate-related disclosure, although we are beginning to see signals in Europe and the UK that they are turning their attention to social issues.
Social reporting focuses on the socioeconomic impacts of an organization’s initiatives or activities on society (indirect or direct).
The “social” component of ESG can be the most difficult to quantify, but if left unmonitored it can leave your organization open to litigation from consumers, employees, and activists.
Although organizations have been disclosing mandated metrics such as occupational health and safety and non-mandated activities such as community involvement for years, the scope of reporting is typically narrow and hard to measure in financial terms.
This is now changing with the recognition by companies of the value of social reporting to brand image, traceability, and overall corporate performance.
Example social metrics
- Rate of injury
- Lost time incident rate
- Proportion of spend on local suppliers
- Entry-level wage versus local minimum wage
- Percentage of management within specific identity groups (i.e. gender and ethnic diversity)
- Number of workers impacted by discrimination
Case Study: McDonald’s Corporation (MCD)
- INDUSTRY: Food service retailer
- SOURCE: RBC Capital Markets, 2021; McDonald’s, 2019
McDonald’s Corporation is the leading global food service retailer. Its purpose is not only providing burgers to dinner tables around the world but also serving its communities, customers, crew, farmers, franchisees, and suppliers alike. As such, not only is the company committed to having a positive impact on communities and in maintaining the growth and success of the McDonald's system, but it is also committed to conducting its business operations in a way that is mindful of its ESG commitments.
McDonald’s Better Together: Gender Balance & Diversity strategy and Women in Tech initiative
In 2019, MCD launched its Better Together: Gender Balance & Diversity strategy as part of a commitment to improving the representation and visibility of women at all levels of the corporate structure by 2023.
In conjunction with the Better Together strategy, MCD piloted a “Women in Tech” initiative through its education and tuition assistance program, Archways to Opportunity. The initiative enabled women from company-owned restaurants and participating franchisee restaurants to learn skills in areas such as data science, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence. MCD partnered with Microsoft and Colorado Technical University to carry out the initiative (McDonald’s, 2019).
Both initiatives directly correlate to the “S” of the ESG framework, as the benefits of gender-diverse leadership continue to be paramount in assessing the core strengths of a company’s overreaching ESG portfolio. Hence, public companies will continue to face pressure from investors to act in accordance with these social initiatives.
Results
MCD’s Better Together and Women in Tech programs ultimately helped improve recruitment and retention rates among its female employee base. After the initialization of the gender balance and diversification strategy, McDonald’s signed on to the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles to help accelerate global efforts in addressing the gender disparity problem.
1.3.1 Metrics and targets for governance disclosure
Do not lose sight of regulatory requirements
Strong governance is foundational element of a ESG program, yet governance reporting is nascent and is often embedded in umbrella legislation pertaining to a particular risk factor.
A good example of this is the recent proposal by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US (CFR Parts 229, 232, 239, 240, and 249, Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure), which will require public companies to:
- Disclosure of board oversight of cyber risk.
- Disclose management’s role in managing and accessing cybersecurity-related risks.
The "G” component includes more than traditional governance factors and acts as a catch-all for other important ESG factors such as fraud, cybersecurity, and data hygiene. Make sure you understand how risk may manifest in your organization and put safeguards in place.
Example governance metrics
- Annual CEO compensation compared to median
- Percentage of employees trained in conflict-of-interest policy
- Completed number of supplier assessments
- Number of data breaches using PII
- Number of material cybersecurity breaches
Info-Tech Insight
The "G" in ESG may not be capturing the limelight under ESG legislation yet, but there are key governance factors that are that are under regulatory radar, including data, cybersecurity, fraud, and DEI. Be sure you stay on top of these issues and include performance metrics into your internal and external reporting frameworks.
1.3.2 Conquering data management challenges
48% of investment decision makers, including 58% of institutional investors, say companies’ self-reported ESG performance data is “much more important” than companies’ conventional financial data when informing their investment decisions (Benchmark ESG, 2021). |
Due to the nascent nature of climate-related reporting, data challenges such as the availability, usability, comparability, and workflow integration surface early in the ESG program journey when sourcing and organizing data:
- It is challenging to collect non-financial data across functional business and geographical locations and from supplier base and supply chains.
- The lack of common standards leads to comparability challenges, hindering confidence in the outputs.
In addition to good, reliable inputs, organizations need to have the infrastructure to access new data sets and convert raw data into actionable insights.
The establishment of data model and workflow processes to track data lineage is essential to support an ESG program. To be successful, it is critical that flexibility, scalability, and transparency exist in the architectural design. Data architecture must scale to capture rapidly growing volumes of unstructured raw data with the associated file formats.
Download Info-Tech’s
Create and Manage Enterprise Data Models blueprint
1.3.3 Reporting architecture
CIOs play an important part in formulating the agenda and discourse surrounding baseline ESG reporting initiatives
Building and operating an ESG program requires the execution of a large number of complex tasks.
IT leaders have an important role to play in selecting the right technology approach to support a long-term strategy that will sustain and grow corporate performance.
The decision to buy a vendor solution or build capabilities in-house will largely depend on your organization’s ESG ambitions and the maturity of in-house business and IT capabilities.
For large, heavily regulated entities an integrated platform for ESG reporting can provide organizations with improved risk management and internal controls.
Example considerations when deciding to meet ESG reporting obligations in-house
- Size and type of organization
- Extent of regulatory requirements and scrutiny
- The amount of data you want to report
- Current maturity of data architecture, particularly your ability to scale
- Current maturity of your risk and control program – how easy is it to enhance current processes?
- The availability and quality of primary data
- Data set gaps
- In-house expertise in data, model risk, and change management
- Current operating model – is it siloed or integrated?
- Implementation time
- Program cost
- The availability of vendor solutions that may address gaps
Info-Tech Insight
Executive leadership should take a more holistic and proactive stance to not only accurately reporting upon baseline corporate financial metrics but also capturing and disclosing relevant ESG performance metrics to drive alternative streams of valuation across their respective organizational environments.
Activity 6: High-level implementation considerations
Input: Business (ESG) strategy, Data inventory (if exists), Asset inventory (if exists), Output from Activity 5
Output: Summary of high-level implementation considerations
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Data analysts, Data and IT architect/leaders,
2-3 hours
- Review the implementation considerations on the previous slide to help determine the appropriate technology approach.
- For each implementation consideration, describe the current state.
- Discuss and draft the implications of reaching the desired future state by listing implications and organizational gaps.
- Discuss as a group if there is an obvious implementation approach.
- At this point, further analysis may be needed. Form a subcommittee or assign a leader to conduct further analysis.
- Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.
Download the ESG Reporting Workbook
1.3.4 Ensure your implementation team has a high degree of trust and communication
If external partners are needed, dedicate an internal resource to managing the vendor and partner relationships.
Communication: Teams must have some type of communication strategy. This can be broken into:
- Regularity: Having a set time each day to communicate progress and a set day to conduct retrospectives.
- Ceremonies: Injecting awards and continually emphasizing delivery of value to encourage relationship building and constructive motivation.
- Escalation: Voicing any concerns and having someone responsible for addressing those concerns.
Proximity: Distributed teams create complexity as communication can break down. This can be mitigated by:
- Location: Placing teams in proximity to close the barrier of geographical distance and time zone differences.
- Inclusion: Making a deliberate attempt to pull remote team members into discussions and ceremonies.
- Communication tools: Having the right technology (e.g. videoconference) to help bring teams closer together virtually.
Trust: Members should trust other members are contributing to the project and completing their required tasks on time. Trust can be developed and maintained by:
- Accountability: Having frequent quality reviews and feedback sessions. As work becomes more transparent, people become more accountable.
- Role clarity: Having a clear definition of what everyone’s role is.
1.4 Clear effective communication
Improving investor transparency is one of the key drivers behind disclosure, so making the data easy to find and consumable is essential
Your communication of ESG performance is intricately linked to corporate value creation. When designing your communications strategy, consider:
- Your message – make it authentic and tell a consistent story.
- How data will be used to support the narrative.
- How your ESG program may impact internal and external programs and build a communication strategy that is fit for purpose. Example programs are:
- Employee recruitment
- New product rollout
- New customer campaign
- The design of the communication and how well it suits the audience. Communications may take the form of campaigns, thought leadership, infographics, etc.
- The appropriateness of communication channels to your various audiences and the messages you want to convey. For example, social media, direct outreach, shareholder circular, etc.
1.5 Continually evaluate
A recent BDC survey of 121 large companies and public-sector buyers found that 82% require some disclosure from their suppliers on ESG, and that's expected to grow to 92% by 2024.
Source: BDC, 2023
ESG's link to corporate performance means that organizations must stay on top of ESG issues that may impact the long-term sustainability of their business.
ESG components will continue to evolve, and as they do so will stakeholder views. It is important to continually survey your stakeholders to ensure you are optimally managing ESG risks and opportunities.
To keep ESG on the strategy agenda, we recommend that organizations:
- Appoint a chief sustainability officer (CSO) with a seat on executive leadership committees.
- Embed ESG into existing governance and form a tactical ESG working group committee.
- Ensure ESG risks are integrated into the enterprise risk management program.
- Continually challenge your ESG strategy.
- Regularly review risks and opportunities through proactive outreach to stakeholders.
Download The ESG Imperative and Its Impact on Organizations
Phase 2
Streamline Requirements and Tool Selection
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
- Assess technology and tooling opportunities.
- Prepare ESG reporting implementation plan.
- Write ESG reporting presentation document.
This phase involves the following participants: CIO, CCO, CSO, EA, IT application and data leaders, procurement, business leaders, marketing and communications, head of ESG reporting, and any dedicated ESG team members
2.1 Streamline your requirements and tool section
Spend the time up front to enable success and meet expectations
Before sourcing any technology, it’s important to have a good understanding of your requirements.
Key elements to consider:
- ESG reporting scope. Large enterprises will have more complex workflow requirements, but they also will have larger teams to potentially manage in-house. Smaller organizations will need easy-to-use, low-cost solutions.
- Industry and value chain. Look for industry-specific solutions, as they will be more tailored to your needs and will enable you to be up and running quicker.
- Coverage. Ensure the tool has adequate regulatory coverage to meet your current and future needs.
- Gap in functionality. Be clear on the problem you are trying to solve and/or the gap in workflow. Refer to the reporting lifecycle and be clear on your needs before sourcing technology.
- Resourcing. Factor in capacity during and after implementation and negotiate the appropriate support.
Industry perspective
The importance of ESG is something that will need to be considered for most, if not every decision in the future, and having reliable and available information is essential. While the industry will continue to see investment and innovation that drives operational efficiency and productivity, we will also see strong ESG themes in these emerging technologies to ensure they support both sustainable and socially responsible operations.
With the breadth of technology Datamine already has addressing the ESG needs for the mining industry combined with our new technology, our customers can make effective and timely decisions through incorporating ESG data into their planning and scheduling activities to meet customer demands, while staying within the confines of their chosen ESG targets.
Chris Parry
VP of ESG, Datamine
Activity 7: Brainstorm tooling options
Use the technology feature list below to identify areas along the ESG workflow where automated tools or third-party solutions may create efficiencies
Technological Solutions Feature Bucket |
Basic Feature Description |
Advanced Feature Description |
Natural language processing (NLP) tools |
Ability to use NLP tools to track and monitor sentiment data from news and social media outlets. |
Leveraging NLP toolsets can provide organizations granular insights into workplace sentiment levels, which is a core component of any ESG strategy. A recent study by MarketPsych, a company that uses NLP technologies to analyze sentiment data from news and social media feeds, linked stock price performance to workplace sentiment levels. |
Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) |
DLTs can help ensure greater reporting transparency, in line with stringent regulatory reporting requirements. |
DLT as an ESG enabler, with advanced capabilities such as an option to provide demand response services linked to electricity usage and supply forecasting. |
Cloud-based data management and reporting systems |
Cloud-based data management and reporting can support ESG initiatives by providing increased reporting transparency and a better understanding of diverse social and environmental risks. |
Leverage newfound toolsets such as Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability – a SaaS offering that enables organizations to seamlessly record, report, and reduce their emissions on a path toward net zero. |
IoT technologies |
Integration of IoT devices can help enhance the integrity of ESG reporting through the collection of descriptive and accurate ESG metrics (e.g. energy efficiency, indoor air quality, water quality and usage). |
Advanced management of real-time occupancy monitoring: for example, the ability to reduce energy consumption rates by ensuring energy is only used when spaces and individual cubicles are occupied. |
2.2 Vendors tools and technologies to support ESG reporting
In a recent survey of over 1,000 global public- and private-sector leaders, 87% said they see AI as a helpful tool to fight climate change.
Source: Boston Consulting Group
Technology providers are part of the solution and can be leveraged to collect, analyze, disclose, track, and report on the vast amount of data.
Increasingly organizations are using artificial intelligence to build climate resiliency:
- AI is useful for the predictive modelling of potential climate events due to its ability to gather and analyze and synthesize large complete data sets.
And protect organizations from vulnerabilities:
- AI can be used to identify and assess vulnerabilities that may lead to business disruption or risks in production or the supply chain.
2.3 ESG reporting software selection
What Is ESG Reporting Software?
Our definition: ESG reporting software helps organizations improve the transparency and accountability of their ESG program and track, measure, and report their sustainability efforts.
Key considerations for reporting software selection:
- While there are boutique ESG vendors in the market, organizations with existing GRC tools may first want to discuss ESG coverage with their existing vendor as it will enable better integration.
- Ensure that the vendors you are evaluating support the requirements and regulations in your region, industry, and geography. Regulation is moving quickly – functionality needs to be available now and not just on the roadmap.
- Determine the level of software integration support you need before meeting with vendors and ensure they will be able to provide it – when you need it!
Adoption of ESG reporting software has historically been low, but these tools will become critical as organizations strive to meet increasing ESG reporting requirements.
In a recent ESG planning and performance survey conducted by ESG SaaS company Diligent Corporation, it was found that over half of all organizations surveyed do not publish ESG metrics of any kind, and only 9% of participants are actively using software that supports ESG data collection, analysis, and reporting.
Source: Diligent, 2021.
2.3.1 Elicit and prioritize granular requirements for your ESG reporting software
Understanding business needs through requirements gathering is the key to defining everything about what is being purchased. However, it is an area where people often make critical mistakes.
Poorly scoped requirements
Fail to be comprehensive and miss certain areas of scope.
Focus on how the solution should work instead of what it must accomplish.
Have multiple levels of detail within the requirements that are inconsistent and confusing.
Drill all the way down into system-level detail.
Add unnecessary constraints based on what is done today rather than focusing on what is needed for tomorrow.
Omit constraints or preferences that buyers think are obvious.
|
Best practices
Get a clear understanding of what the system needs to do and what it is expected to produce.
Test against the principle of MECE – requirements should be “mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.”
Explicitly state the obvious and assume nothing.
Investigate what is sold on the market and how it is sold. Use language that is consistent with that of the market and focus on key differentiators – not table stakes.
Contain the appropriate level of detail – the level should be suitable for procurement and sufficient for differentiating vendors.
|
Download Info-Tech's Improve Requirements Gathering blueprint
2.3.1 Identify critical and nice-to-have features
Central Data Repository: Collection of stored data from existing databases merged into one location that can then be shared, analyzed, or updated.
Automatic Data Collection: Ability to automate data flows, collect responses from multiple sources at specified intervals, and check them against acceptance criteria.
Automatic KPI Calculations, Conversions, and Updates: Company-specific metrics can be automatically calculated, converted, and tracked.
Built-In Indicator Catalogs and Benchmarking: Provides common recognized frameworks or can integrate a catalog of ESG indicators.
Custom Reporting: Ability to create reports on company emissions, energy, and asset data in company-branded templates.
User-Based Access and Permissions: Ability to control access to specific content or data sets based on the end user’s roles.
Real-Time Capabilities: Ability to analyze and visualize data as soon as it becomes available in underlying systems.
Version Control: Tracking of document versions with each iteration of document changes.
Intelligent Alerts and Notifications: Ability to create, manage, send, and receive notifications, enhancing efficiency and productivity.
Audit Trail: View all previous activity including any recent edits and user access.
Encrypted File Storage and Transfer: Ability to encrypt a file before transmitting it over the network to hide content from being viewed or extracted.
Activity 7: Technology and tooling options
Input: Business (ESG) strategy, Data inventory (if exists), Asset inventory (if exists), Output from Activity 5, Output from Activity 6,
Output: List of tooling options
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Data analysts, Data and IT architect/leaders
1-2 hours
- Begin by listing key requirements and features for your ESG reporting program.
- Use the outputs from activities 5 and 6 and the technology feature list on the previous slide to help brainstorm technology and tooling options.
- Discuss the availability and readiness of each option. Note that regulatory requirements will have an effective date that will impact the time to market for introducing new tooling.
- Discuss and assign a priority.
- At this point, further analysis may be needed. Form a subcommittee or assign a leader to conduct further analysis.
- Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.
Download the ESG Reporting Workbook
Activity 8: Implementation plan
Input: Business (ESG) strategy, Output from Activity 5, Output from Activity 6, Output from Activity 7
Output: ESG Reporting Implementation Plan
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Implementation Plan Template
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Data analysts, PMO, Data and IT architect/leaders
1-2 hours
- Use the outputs from activities 5 to 7 and list required implementation tasks. Set a priority for each task.
- Assign the accountable owner as well as the group responsible. Larger organizations and large, complex change programs will have a group of owners.
- Track any dependencies and ensure the project timeline aligns.
- Add status as well as start and end dates.
- Complete in the ESG Reporting Implementation Plan Template.
Download the ESG Reporting Implementation Plan Template
Activity 9: Internal communication
Input: Business (ESG) strategy, ESG Reporting Workbook, ESG reporting implementation plan
Output: ESG Reporting Presentation Template
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Presentation Template, Internal communication templates
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Head of Marketing/ Communications, Business leaders, PMO
1-2 hours
Since a purpose-driven ESG program presents a significant change in how organizations operate, the goals and intentions need to be understood throughout the organization. Once you have developed your ESG reporting strategy it is important that it is communicated, understood, and accepted. Use the ESG Reporting Presentation Template as a guide to deliver your story.
- Consider your audience and discuss and agree on the key elements you want to convey.
- Prepare the presentation.
- Test the presentation with smaller group before communicating to senior leadership/board
Download the ESG Reporting Presentation Template
Phase 3
Select ESG Reporting Software
This phase will provide additional material on Info-Tech’s expertise in the following areas:
- Info-Tech’s approach to RFPs
- Info-Tech tools for software selection
- Example ESG software assessments
3.1 Leverage Info-Tech’s expertise
Develop an inclusive and thorough approach to the RFP process
The Info-Tech difference:
- The secret to managing an RFP is to make it as manageable and as thorough as possible. The RFP process should be like any other aspect of business – with a standard process in place, you are better able to handle whatever comes your way, because you know the steps you need to follow to produce a top-notch RFP.
- The business then identifies the need for more information about a product/service or determines that a purchase is required.
- A team of stakeholders from each area impacted gather all business, technical, legal, and risk requirements. What are the expectations of the vendor relationship post-RFP? How will the vendors be evaluated?
- Based on predetermined requirements, either an RFI or an RFP is issued to vendors with a due date.
Info-Tech Insight
Review Info-Tech’s process and understand how you can prevent your organization from leaking negotiation leverage while preventing vendors from taking control of your RFP.
Software Selection Engagement
5 Advisory Calls Over a 5-Week Period to Accelerate Your Selection Process
Expert Analyst Guidance over5 weeks on average to select and negotiate software.
Save Money, Align Stakeholders, Speed Up the Process & make better decisions.
Use a Repeatable, Formal Methodology to improve your application selection process.
Better, Faster Results, guaranteed, included in membership.
CLICK HERE to Book Your Selection Engagement
Leverage the Contract Review Service to level the playing field with your shortlisted vendors
You may be faced with multiple products, services, master service agreements, licensing models, service agreements, and more.
Use the Contract Review Service to gain insights on your agreements.
Consider the aspects of a contract review:
- Are all key terms included?
- Are they applicable to your business?
- Can you trust that results will be delivered?
- What questions should you be asking from an IT perspective?
Validate that a contract meets IT’s and the business’ needs by looking beyond the legal terminology. Use a practical set of questions, rules, and guidance to improve your value for dollar spent.
Click here to book The Contract Review Service
Download blueprint Master Contract Review and Negotiation for Software Agreements
3.2 Vendor spotlight assessments
See above for a vendor landscape overview of key ESG reporting software providers
The purpose of this section is to showcase various vendors and companies that provide software solutions to help users manage and prioritize their ESG reporting initiatives.
This section showcases the core capabilities of each software platform to provide Info-Tech members with industry insights regarding some of the key service providers that operate within the ESG vendor market landscape.
Info-Tech members who are concerned with risks stemming from the inability to sort and disseminate unstructured ESG data reporting metrics or interested in learning more about software offerings that can help automate the data collection, processing, and management of ESG metrics will find high-level insights into the ESG vendor market space.
Vendor spotlight
The establishment of the Datamine ESG unit comes at the same time the mining sector is showing an increased interest in managing ESG and its component systems as part of a single scope.
With miners collecting and dealing with ever-increasing quantities of data and looking for ways to leverage it to make data-driven decisions that enhance risk management and increase profitability, integrated software solutions are – now more than ever – essential in supporting continuous improvement and maintaining data fidelity and data integrity across the entire mining value chain.
Key Features:
- Discover GIS for geochemical, water, erosion, and vegetation modelling and management.
- Qmed for workforce health management, COVID testing, and vaccine administration.
- MineMarket and Reconcilor for traceability and auditing, giving visibility to chain of custody and governance across the value chain, from resource modelling to shipping and sales.
- Centric Mining Systems – intelligence software for real-time transparency and governance across multiple sites and systems, including key ESG performance indicator reporting.
- Zyght – a leading health, safety, and environment solution for high-impact industries that specializes in environment, injury, risk management, safe work plans, document management, compliance, and reporting.
- Isystain – a cloud-based platform uniquely designed to support health, safety & environment, sustainability reporting, compliance and governance, and social investment reporting. Designed for seamless integration within an organization’s existing software ecosystems providing powerful analytics and reporting capabilities to streamline the production of sustainability and performance reporting.
Vendor spotlight
Benchmark ESG provides industry-leading ESG data management and reporting software that can assist organizations in managing operational risk and compliance, sustainability, product stewardship, and ensuring responsible sourcing across complex global operations.
Key Features:
Vendor spotlight
PwC’s ESG Management Solution provides quick insights into ways to improve reporting transparency surrounding your organization’s ESG commitments.
According to PwC’s most recent CEO survey, the number one motivator for CEOs in mitigating climate change risks is their own desire to help solve this global problem and drive transparency with stakeholders.
Source: “Annual Global CEO Survey,” PwC, 2022.
Key Features:
- Streamlined data mining capabilities. PwC’s ESG solution provides the means to streamline, automate, and standardize the input of sustainability data based on non-financial reporting directive (NFRD) and corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD) regulations.
- Company and product carbon footprint calculation and verification modules.
- Robust dashboarding capabilities. Option to create custom-tailored sustainability monitoring dashboards or integrate existing ESG data from an application to existing dashboards.
- Team management functionalities that allow for more accessible cross-departmental communication and collaboration. Ability to check progress on tasks, assign tasks, set automatic notifications/deadlines, etc.
Vendor spotlight
ServiceNow ESG Management (ESGM) and reporting platform helps organizations transform the way they manage, visualize, and report on issues across the ESG spectrum.
The platform automates the data collection process and the organization and storage of information in an easy-to-use system. ServiceNow’s ESGM solution also develops dashboards and reports for internal user groups and ensures that external disclosure reports are aligned with mainstream ESG standards and frameworks.
We know that doing well as a business is about more than profits. One workflow at a time, we believe we can change the world – to be more sustainable, equitable, and ethical.
Source: ServiceNow, 2021.
Key Features:
- An executive dashboard to help coherently outline the status of various ESG indicators, including material topics, goals, and disclosure policies all in one centralized hub
- Status review modules. Ensure that your organization has built-in modules to help them better document and monitor their ESG goals and targets using a single source of truth.
- Automated disclosure modules. ESGM helps organizations create more descriptive ESG disclosure reports that align with industry accountability standards (e.g. SASB, GRI, CDP).
Other key vendors to consider
Related Info-Tech Research
|
Use this blueprint to educate yourself on ESG factors and the broader concept of sustainability.
Identify changes that may be needed in your organizational operating model, strategy, governance, and risk management approach.
Learn about Info-Tech’s ESG program approach and use it as a framework to begin your ESG program journey.
|
|
Increasingly, new capital has a social mandate attached to it due to the rise of ESG investment principles.
Learn about how the growing impact of ESG affects both your organization and IT specifically, including challenges and opportunities, with expert assistance.
|
Definitions
Terms |
Definition |
Corporate Social Responsibility |
Management concept whereby organizations integrate social and environmental concerns in their operations and interactions with their stakeholders. |
Chief Sustainability Officer |
Steers sustainability commitments, helps with compliance, and helps ensure internal commitments are met. Responsibilities may extend to acting as a liaison with government and public affairs, fostering an internal culture, acting as a change agent, and leading delivery. |
ESG |
An acronym that stands for environment, social, and governance. These are the three components of a sustainability program. |
ESG Standard |
Contains detailed disclosure criteria including performance measures or metrics. Standards provide clear, consistent criteria and specifications for reporting. Typically created through consultation process. |
ESG Framework |
A broad contextual model for information that provides guidance and shapes the understanding of a certain topic. It sets direction but does not typically delve into the methodology. Frameworks are often used in conjunction with standards. |
ESG Factors |
The factors or issues that fall under the three ESG components. Measures the sustainability performance of an organization. |
ESG Rating |
An aggregated score based on the magnitude of an organization’s unmanaged ESG risk. Ratings are provided by third-party rating agencies and are increasingly being used for financing, transparency to investors, etc. |
ESG Questionnaire |
ESG surveys or questionnaires are administered by third parties and used to assess an organization’s sustainability performance. Participation is voluntary. |
Key Risk Indicator (KRI) |
A measure to indicate the potential presence, level, or trend of a risk. |
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) |
A measure of deviation from expected outcomes to help a firm see how it is performing. |
Materiality |
Material topics are topics that have a direct or indirect impact on an organization's ability to create, preserve, or erode economic, environmental, and social impact for itself and its stakeholder and society as a whole. |
Materiality Assessment |
A tool to identify and prioritize the ESG issues most critical to the organization. |
Risk Sensing |
The range of activities carried out to identify and understand evolving sources of risk that could have a significant impact on the organization (e.g. social listening). |
Sustainability |
The ability of an organization and broader society to endure and survive over the long term by managing adverse impacts well and promoting positive opportunities. |
Sustainalytics |
Now part of Morningstar. Sustainalytics provides ESG research, ratings, and data to institutional investors and companies. |
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) |
An essential methodological foundation for how impacts across all dimensions should be assessed. |
Reporting and standard frameworks
Standard |
Definition and focus |
|
CDP
(Formally Carbon Disclosure Project)
|
CDP has created standards and metrics for comparing sustainability impact. Focuses on environmental data (e.g. carbon, water, and forests) and on data disclosure and benchmarking.
Audience: All stakeholders
|
|
Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI)
|
Heavy on corporate governance and company performance. Equal balance of economic, environmental, and social.
Audience: All stakeholders
|
|
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
|
International standards organization that has a set of standards to help organizations understand and communicate their impacts on climate change and social responsibility. The standard has a strong emphasis on transparency and materiality, especially on social issues.
Audience: All stakeholders
|
|
International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)
|
Standard-setting board that sits within the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation. The IFRS Foundation is a not-for-profit, public-interest organization established to develop high-quality, understandable, enforceable, and globally accepted accounting and sustainability disclosure standards.
Audience: Investor-focused
|
|
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
|
Global partnership across sectors and industries that sets out 17 goals to achieve sustainable development for all.
Audience: All stakeholders
|
|
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
Now part of IFSR foundation
|
Industry-specific standards to help corporations select topics that may impact their financial performance. Focus on material impacts on financial condition or operating performance.
Audience: Investor-focused
|
|
Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD; created by the Financial Stability Board)
|
Standards framework focused on the impact of climate risk on financial and operating performance. More broadly the disclosures inform investors of positive and negative measures taken to build climate resilience and make transparent the exposure to climate-related risk.
Audience: Investors, financial stakeholders
|
Bibliography
"2021 Global Investor Survey: The Economic Realities of ESG." PwC, Dec. 2021. Accessed May 2022.
"2023 Canadian ESG Reporting Insights." PwC, Nov. 2022. Accessed Dec. 2022.
Althoff, Judson. "Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability: Empowering Organizations On Their Path To Net Zero." Microsoft Blog, 14 July 2021. Accessed May 2022.
"Balancing Sustainability and Profitability." IBM, Feb. 2022. Accessed June. 2022.
"Beyond Compliance: Consumers and Employees Want Business to Do More on ESG." PwC, Nov. 2021. Accessed July 2022.
Bizo, Daniel. "Multi-Tenant Datacenters and Sustainability: Ambitions and Reality." S&P Market Intelligence, Sept. 2020. Web.
Bolden, Kyle. "Aligning nonfinancial reporting with your ESG strategy to communicate long-term value." EY, 18 Dec. 2020. Web.
Carril, Christopher, et al. "Looking at Restaurants Through an ESG Lens: ESG Stratify – Equity Research Report." RBC Capital Markets, 5 Jan. 2021. Accessed Jun. 2022.
"Celebrating and Advancing Women." McDonald’s, 8 March 2019. Web.
Clark, Anna. "Get your ESG story straight: A sustainability communication starter kit." GreenBiz, 20 Dec. 2022, Accessed Dec. 2022.
Courtnell, Jane. “ESG Reporting Framework, Standards, and Requirements.” Corporate Compliance Insights, Sept. 2022. Accessed Dec. 2022.
“Country Sustainability Ranking. Country Sustainability: Visibly Harmed by Covid-19.” Robeco, Oct. 2021. Accessed June 2022.
“Defining the “G” in ESG Governance Factors at the Heart of Sustainable Business.” World Economic Forum, June 2022. Web.
“Digital Assets: Laying ESG Foundations.” Global Digital Finance, Nov. 2021. Accessed April 2022.
“Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJCI) Index Family.” S&P Global Intelligence, n.d. Accessed June 2022.
"ESG in Your Business: The Edge You Need to Land Large Contracts." BDC, March 2023, Accessed April 2023.
“ESG Performance and Its Impact on Corporate Reputation.” Intelex Technologies, May 2022. Accessed July 2022.
“ESG Use Cases. IoT – Real-Time Occupancy Monitoring.” Metrikus, March 2021. Accessed April 2022.
Fanter, Tom, et al. “The History & Evolution of ESG.” RMB Capital, Dec. 2021. Accessed May 2022.
Flynn, Hillary, et al. “A guide to ESG materiality assessments.” Wellington Management, June 2022, Accessed September 2022
“From ‘Disclose’ to ‘Disclose What Matters.’” Global Reporting Initiative, Dec. 2018. Accessed July 2022.
“Getting Started with ESG.” Sustainalytics, 2022. Web.
“Global Impact ESG Fact Sheet.” ServiceNow, Dec. 2021. Accessed June 2022.
Gorley, Adam. “What is ESG and Why It’s Important for Risk Management.” Sustainalytics, March 2022. Accessed May 2022.
Hall, Lindsey. “You Need Near-Term Accountability to Meet Long-Term Climate Goals.” S&P Global Sustainable1, Oct. 2021. Accessed April 2022.
Henisz, Witold, et al. “Five Ways That ESG Creates Value.” McKinsey, Nov. 2019. Accessed July 2022.
“Integrating ESG Factors in the Investment Decision-Making Process of Institutional Investors.” OECD iLibrary, n.d. Accessed July 2022.
“Investor Survey.” Benchmark ESG, Nov. 2021. Accessed July 2022.
Jackson, Brian. Tech Trends 2023, Info-Tech Research Group, Dec. 2022, Accessed Dec. 2022.
Keet, Lior. “What Is the CIO’s Role in the ESG Equation?” EY, 2 Feb. 2022. Accessed May 2022.
Lev, Helee, “Understanding ESG risks and why they matter” GreenBiz, June 2022. Accessed Dec 2022.
Marsh, Chris, and Simon Robinson. “ESG and Technology: Impacts and Implications.” S&P Global Market Intelligence, March 2021. Accessed April 2022.
Martini, A. “Socially Responsible Investing: From the Ethical Origins to the Sustainable Development Framework of the European Union.” Environment, Development and Sustainability, vol. 23, Nov. 2021. Web.
Maher, Hamid, et al. “AI Is Essential for Solving the Climate Crisis.” Boston Consulting Group, 7 July 2022. Web.
“Materiality Assessment. Identifying and Taking Action on What Matters Most.” Novartis, n.d. Accessed June. 2022.
Morrow, Doug, et al. “Understanding ESG Incidents: Key Lessons for Investors.” Sustainalytics, July 2017. Accessed May 2022.
“Navigating Climate Data Disclosure.” Novisto, July 2022. Accessed Nov. 2022.
Nuttall, Robin, et al. “Why ESG Scores Are Here to Stay.” McKinsey & Company, May 2020. Accessed July 2022.
“Opportunities in Sustainability – 451 Research’s Analysis of Sustainability Perspectives in the Data Center Industry.” Schneider Electric, Sept. 2020. Accessed May 2022.
Peterson, Richard. “How Can NLP Be Used to Quantify ESG Analytics?” Refinitiv, Feb. 2021. Accessed June 2022.
“PwC’s 25th Annual Global CEO Survey: Reimagining the Outcomes That Matter.” PwC, Jan. 2022. Accessed June 2022.
“SEC Proposes Rules on Cybersecurity, Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure by Public Companies.” Securities and Exchange Commission, 9 May 2022. Press release.
Serafeim, George. “Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value.” Harvard Business Review, Sept. 2020. Accessed May 2022.
Sherrie, Gonzalez. “ESG Planning and Performance Survey.” Diligent, 24 Sept. 2021. Accessed July 2022.
“Special Reports Showcase, Special Report: Mid-Year Report on Proposed SEC Rule 14-8 Change.” Sustainable Investments Institute, July 2020. Accessed April 2022.
“State of European Tech. Executive Summary Report.” Atomico, Nov. 2021. Accessed June 2022.
“Top Challenges in ESG Reporting, and How ESG Management Solution Can Help.” Novisto, Sept. 2022. Accessed Nov. 2022.
Vaughan-Smith, Gary. “Navigating ESG data sets and ‘scores’.” Silverstreet Capital, 23 March 2022. Accessed Dec. 2022.
Waters, Lorraine. “ESG is not an environmental issue, it’s a data one.” The Stack, 20 May 2021. Web.
Wells, Todd. “Why ESG, and Why Now? New Data Reveals How Companies Can Meet ESG Demands – And Innovate Supply Chain Management.” Diginomica, April 2022. Accessed July 2022.
“XBRL is coming to corporate sustainability Reporting.” Novisto, Aug. 2022. Accessed Dec. 2022.
Research Contributors and Experts
Chris Parry
VP of ESG, Datamine
Chris Parry has recently been appointed as the VP of ESG at Datamine Software. Datamine’s dedicated ESG division provides specialized ESG technology for sustainability management by supporting key business processes necessary to drive sustainable outcomes.
Chris has 15 years of experience building and developing business for enterprise applications and solutions in both domestic and international markets.
Chris has a true passion for business-led sustainable development and is focused on helping organizations achieve their sustainable business outcomes through business transformation and digital software solutions.
Datamine’s comprehensive ESG capability supports ESG issues such as the environment, occupational health and safety, and medical health and wellbeing. The tool assists with risk management, stakeholder management and business intelligence.
![A diagram that shows [Insert Organization Name]’s Communications Guide](/images/ITMGF/infra-and-operations/end-user-computing/voice-video-management/assess-your-readiness-to-implement-ucaas/030-communications-guide-template.png)
