Do you have a company and have been wondering about the best way to thrust it to the next level? We will tell you one method that has worked for most top brands that you see out there: adopting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability reporting. Getting an ESG consultant is a key for your sustainability roadmap.
According to KPMG, over 90% of top brands in the US have adopted sustainability and release sustainability reports regularly for their stakeholders to understand their efforts to make the planet a better place for all.
With ESG reports, it becomes easy to convince investors that you are the company of the future and, therefore, stick with your brand and inject capital into its operations. The list of benefits of ESG sustainability reporting can go on and on, including better attachment to customers.
However, concerns about the quality of ESG sustainability reports being released by companies for stakeholders to use have come into sharp focus. While the principles of ESG reporting, such as clarity and verifiability of data, are clear, some companies rarely follow or partially adhere to them.
Notably, the process of reporting in companies is never easy because it involves multiple parameters, analysis and using ever-changing platforms. However, you cannot give up because the world is adrift towards sustainability.
The best way out is getting it right and we will tell you a pretty straightforward method: working with an ESG consultant or an ESG Consulting firm for professional help. This post will tell you how identifying and working with the best consultant for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability reporting services can help your company grow to the next level. All about the climate reporting here.
ESG Consulting : A Brief about ESG Sustainability Reporting
ESG sustainability reporting is the process of disclosure of a company’s environmental, social, and governance impacts from its operations. The objective is not to simply create the report but the entire process, which helps to guarantee credibility of the business for the presented data. Here are the main steps involved in sustainability reporting:
- Evaluating the risks and opportunities for your company: This step marks the start of the ESG sustainability reporting process for your business, and it entails identifying challenges and areas of opportunity as well as risks for your company. You need to review the entire company's operations with and target making the strategy and performance better in the coming months, and years.
- Stakeholders input: What do they prefer? The report you create is targeted at stakeholders, such as clients and investors, who will need the information therein to make decisions about the company. So, reach them and ask what they want the company to focus on. Do they want the business to start helping the less privileged, growing investment, or product development?
- Materiality assessment: After identifying different areas of ESG interest, materiality assessment is used to pinpoint the topics to focus on. These should be those that will deliver the highest sustainability impacts for the company.
- Strategy formulation: To make your efforts on sustainability easy for stakeholders to identify, you will need to craft a good strategy for better performance. This should identify the areas of interest, the short/long term objectives and key performance indicators. You should also visualize how the final ESG report will look like.
- Data gathering and report development: Although this step is marked data collection and report development, we must indicate that gathering information on your business to prepare the report starts from the first step.
- However, the bulk of the data is generated when the strategy you created to address the risks is being implemented. So, this is the data you should use to prepare the report that will ultimately be published or presented to the stakeholders.
What to Expect from Working with ESG Consultants
From the process of ESG reporting we have highlighted above, it is now clear that it can be pretty complex for most companies. Most small and medium enterprises find it very tough to conceptualize the ideas of risks and materiality assessment, let alone prepare the report that is accurate. Well, you can avoid these challenges by introducing an ESG consultant to help your team. Here are the main things to expect from the consultant services:
● A Simplified ESG Reporting Process
A consultant who has helped other top firms with the process of ESG reporting services understands how it should be run from the start to the end. Most consultants are also experts in different frameworks, such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and will help to simplify the process for you. From metrics to calculations, nothing is too complex for these consulting professionals.
● An ESG Consultant can Help You to Cut Down Cost of Operations
For most people, ESG reporting is a costly affair. However, it depends on how you look at it. From a short-term consideration, ESG reporting is expensive, but the cost will look negligible in the long term. To keep the cost low, even in the short term, a consultant will come in handy. For example, the consultant can work with a leaner team for ESG sustainability reporting as opposed to the entire organization.
The other members can be engaged for specific roles that fall in their areas of work.
Depending on the terms and conditions of the contract, the ESG Consulting firm can further help to train your staff on ESG reporting. Therefore, the consulting professionals will make it possible for your team to report more effectively in the future reporting sessions. The professional will inject crucial skills needed by your staff and company for success.
● ESG Experts can Help You Enrich Your Business Strategy
While the primary focus of an ESG consultant is helping your business follow the process of sustainability reporting correctly, he/she will have a lot more to offer. After assisting you in reviewing your business operations, the expert will be there to ensure your company's operational strategy is enriched.
So, what is your current strategy? Is the plan for better performance in the production line, attracting clients, governance, or building more investment working?
Well, efforts for sustainability will not be considered successful if the company is still running into losses. Therefore, tap into the consultant’s rich skills in management to accelerate profit growth.
● They Create Top Notch Reports to Win More Stakeholders
Look at your business and ask one big question, “what does it need to grow?” Is it more capital from investors, customers, more committed staff, a stronger brand, or all of them? Well, no matter what the missing link is, an ESG consultant can help to fill the gap.
With easy-to-understand, verifiable, and top-rated reports, it will be easy to convince your stakeholders that this is the best company for them. Let’s take the example of ESG reporting as a requirement by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX).
When you bring on board an expert ESG consultant, it becomes easy to anticipate future risks and opportunities. Then, the expert in ESG Consulting can help you to define a clear strategy to overcome these issues. This is the kind of report that investors want to see to inject more money into the company.
No matter the approach you select for company management, ESG sustainability reporting is central to your success. This is why you need to work with an ESG consultant and advanced programs. The expert consultant makes the process more focused on reporting and growing the company to the next level. Reach out to Diginex now for all the assistance you need with ESG reporting and ESG sustainability reporting software.
