Developing and reporting on ESG is a demonstration of strong corporate leadership and governance. This tends to have positive impacts on a company’s brand, legal liability, and financial position. But how do you get one off the ground?
We’ve listed out 5 steps to developing your ESG strategy, and we’ll be going through each of these in more detail to get you started.
Let’s start with your ESG Mission.
Your mission statement answers the question in broad strokes, “How do environmental, social, and governance concepts relate to our corporate mission?” This is the point in the process where you will establish your ESG goals.
Many companies begin this work by conducting a Materiality Assessment.
A materiality assessment assesses what’s considered material (as in important and relevant) for your organization when it comes to ESG, and which metrics your organization will track, measure, and report. This is an important step as not all aspects of ESG will relate to your organization, but many will. ESG issues have a tendency to vary from industry to industry, and company to company. For example, fuel efficiency has a bigger impact on the bottom line of a delivery service than it does for an investment bank.
ESG standards organization SASB has developed a Materiality Finder that can help you understand which ESG disclosure topics are considered material to distinct industries. This can be a good first swipe at what’s good to include in your reporting.
Who are your stakeholders?
Keep in mind, this is an activity that can’t be done in a vacuum. You’ll want to establish a cross-departmental team of stakeholders to determine materiality and help establish your mission. Think about whose perspectives are important to the mission. Who might you include to ensure you’ve captured both internal and external perspectives? These could be members of your:
- ESG or sustainability team
- Investor relations
- Finance
- C-suite
- Board members
- Customers
Prioritize key issues and impacts.
Once you’ve determined your stakeholders, not it’s time to get their feedback on which issues are most material to your organization. Your stakeholders can help you look at identified issues and score their
- importance
- potential impacts, and
- market expectations.
Determine collective goals.
This exercise can help identify risks you need to disclose as well as help produce ESG reports that are accountable, authentic, and actionable. Part of being accountable and authentic is the ability to compare apples to apples. Take a look at what your peers are doing. Which reporting framework are they using? What metrics are they prioritizing and disclosing?
Ok, processing this feedback will give you a solid base of informationto build your ESG Mission upon. And from there, you’re well on your way to tackling the next steps of your ESG journey.
How KPA Helps Support Your ESG Goals
KPA’s here to help by providing consulting, software, and training to align with your ESG mission.
Environmental
KPA provides consulting and training to help ensure you’re minimizing your impact on your local environment. This can span ensuring compliance with environmental regulations, to helping develop strategies and best practices for reducing your environmental waste streams.
Social
KPA’s 35 years of health and safety experience are here to help you develop an initiative that shows you put people first. Rely on safety program data, comprehensive training library, and usage metrics to demonstrate your organization values people both inside and outside the company.
Governance
Lean on KPA’s comprehensive policy and training libraries along with in-depth reporting to demonstrate your organization follows good governance practices. This is governance that spans ethical sales practices, adherence to a comprehensive code of conduct, and audit trails that demonstrate your commitment to good governance.
KPA’s technology and expertise can help you make successful strides toward fulfilling your ESG mission.
