Sustainability & ESG • RSC Data & Analytics

ESG

Businesses today have a greater responsibility than ever before when it comes to accelerating sustainability initiatives and achieving environmental goals. Factors such as Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) reporting requirements, decarbonization goals, and accelerating climate change are putting the pressure on organizations to not only be compliant with their ESG reporting requirements, but also to make a difference by implementing profitable solutions that protect people and the planet.

Where we go today?

There is no doubt that sustainability has become a global megatrend over the last decade. Environmental sustainability is no longer just a corporate social responsibility (CSR) issue – it’s a business imperative. Opportunities and risks related to the en vironment are challenging the strategies and operating models of organizations across all sectors and functions. Strategic environmental choices, which are a subset of a broader sustainability agenda, increasingly define a company’s prospects in today’s competitive marketplace.

For some time, the role of business in sustainability has received steadily increasing attention from companies and their stakeholders. Although it is currently not mandatory in some industries, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting is now a high-stakes business imperative and highly encouraged by shareholders.

Reports must be finance-grade, fully auditable, comparable across periods, and approved by a corporate officer.
To thrive in a sustainable world, leaders must:

• Define their ESG and sustainability goals
• Establish a clear baseline
• Operationalize their sustainability goals

As mentioned, sustainability and ESG reporting has become a business imperative, and is crucial to driving the resiliency and agility that enterprises need in a world where change is constant. Multiple forces are driving businesses to craft a pathway to a sustainable future, but the world needs industry champions to lead the way and drive real transformation, powered by exponential technologies and ecosystem collaboration.

Stakeholder pressure is high and intensifying

Building a sustainable business and ensuring proper management of ESG indicators has never been more important; yet it is incredibly challenging. Although it is not currently required for all businesses to disclose their ESG metrics,

many companies already do, or they are looking for a way to start because of the impacts on investors, consumers, employees, and governments. For example:

Investors

$53

trillion investment in ESG by 2025

Consumers

80%

of consumers indicate sustainability is important to them

Employees

64%

of millennials consider a company’s social and environmental commitments when deciding where to work

Government

83%

Net zero targets have been set by governments who represent 83% of global greenhouse gas emissions

Key business challenges

Business success requires new levels of resilience and agility, rooted in responsible practices that preserve the planet for future generations. Talking around being sustainable is one thing but finding a path to successful action is another. Forbes reported “Although 90% of executives think sustainability is important,

only 60% of companies have a sustainability strategy.” This is because of the challenges that clients are experiencing when it comes to implementing sustainability strategies. If sustainability were easy, everyone would be doing it.

SG disclosures

This is one of the core challenges for businesses because investors are increasingly demanding that organizations publicly disclose their Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) credentials to external ESG agencies and frameworks, and in accordance with an increasing number of ESG reporting standards. However not all organizations have the tools or analytics to do this in an accurate and efficient manner.

GHG calculation and reporting

GHG reporting: One of the most difficult parts of ESG disclosures is GHG reporting. GHG reporting covers not only an organization’s operations, but also the upstream supply chain and downstream distribution and products sold. For example, when a consumer purchases a bicycle from Costco, emissions are generated from creating the bicycle itself (upstream), as well as, the emissions generated from gas and shipping of the product to Costco warehouses worldwide (downstream). For large organizations, it typically involves bringing together thousands or tens of thousands of individual data streams on an ongoing basis from dozens or hundreds of different data sources.

Achieving decarbonization targets

Achieving decarbonization targets: Companies want to reduce their carbon emission, but many currently lack a roadmap to achieve this target. The purpose around sustainable businesses is to not just set a goal but to successfully attain it. Organizations feel all of the pressures previously mentioned; however without a roadmap in place, they will forever struggle to achieve their decarbonization goals.

Driving engagement and action

Driving engagement and action: In response to investor and market pressure, companies are making GHG net zero commitments in record numbers. For example, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and Oxford Net Zero reported “1 in 5 of the world’s 2,000 largest publicly listed companies have committed to net zero.” But again, it’s one thing to make a net zero commitment for a future date, and another to mobilize a large organization to make steady progress towards those commitments.