What is ESG reporting and why does it matter today?

ESG metrics and reporting are fast becoming business imperatives. Increased scrutiny from investors, shifts in consumer and customer expectations and likely policy changes mean companies are facing new pressure to measure, disclose and improve on ESG-related issues across three clear categories:

• Environmental: carbon emissions, water and waste management, raw material sourcing, climate change vulnerability
• Social: diversity, equity and inclusion, labor management, data privacy and security, community relations
• Governance: board governance, business ethics, intellectual property protection

Stakeholders across the business spectrum see ESG as a window into a company’s future. ESG reporting and metrics are also an important indicator of a company’s overall health, and ESG reports can lay the foundation for a compelling story about the impact your company is making on the world. Tying all three elements of ESG into consolidated reporting, and to your broader strategy, signals that your company is taking the necessary steps to be viable and profitable in the long run.

And that’s music to the ears of investors looking out for the long-term health of their portfolios.

How we can help

ESG Reporting

Reporting and verifying your company’s environmental, social and governance performance in a standalone sustainability report, within the annual report or integrated reporting.

We can help you to:

• Prepare/Advise on ESG indicator collection and ESG reporting framework
• Prepare/Advise on ESG reports and/or Internal Control over Sustainability Reporting
• Undertake internal audits to gauge the effectiveness of your internal controls and measures
• Review your current reporting against best practices, identify operational improvements and move it beyond compliance to include future-looking analysis and strategies
• Provide independent assurance of the data in your sustainability report as well as assurance for performance purposes, such as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI); we’ll also prepare or check your data against social and environmental frameworks such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), GHG Protocol, and AA1000
• Support your submissions to sustainability indices by helping you to interpret the questionnaire before submission; we’ll also identify any gaps to improve your position in the rankings
• Align measurable sustainability objectives with your corporate strategy based on financial, operational and regulatory performance measures
• Assess how the life cycle of your products and services might impact your sustainability goals
• Advise on disclosure/reporting strategy
• Provide ESG risk assurance

Climate Change and Carbon Management

Climate Change and Carbon Management involves:

• Measuring and reporting carbon emissions throughout the entire value chain
• Identifying climate change risks and opportunities
• Developing and implementing policies, strategies and programmes on climate change, economics and green growth

We can help you to:

• Understand the data that needs to be collected, the management information systems and processes that need to be in place
• Manage climate change risks and respond to opportunities
• Develop high-level climate change strategies and its practical implementation on the ground
• Respond to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) through collaborative engagement. PwC has been the global sponsor and advisor of the CDP since 2008, giving us the insights to:
  • provide guidance in responding to the CDP and review of the CDP questionnaire
  • provide confidence through verification of your climate or sustainability data before submission to the CDP

Strategic Sustainability

What is Strategic Sustainability?

• Finding the right sustainability drivers to create or enhance value through risk management, revenue growth, and cost reduction
• Defining sustainability vision to support corporate strategy and developing a roadmap and implementation plans to enable value creation

We can help you to:

• Identify your issues and goals to determine where the pressures are likely to be and raise awareness of what needs to be done to make your business more sustainable
• Prioritise these issues from both a sustainability and commercial point of view. This will help you recognise and better manage risks; and improve efficiency, revenue potential, growth, and other opportunities
• Map the short and long-term ambitions for your sustainability vision, goals and values, assess the risks, and address any gaps in delivery
• Support the alignment and integration of your sustainability vision, goals and values into your overall corporate strategy
• Develop and deliver a robust sustainability programme that includes prioritised initiatives, enablers, milestones, key performance indicators, and measurable targets

ESG Training

Capability training for leadership, senior management team and staff plays an important role in adapting quickly with continuous changes in the sustainability landscape and enabling effective sustainable transformation. Our clients usually engage us to upskill their team through typical modules as below:

• ESG Learning Series – ESG Risk Assessment
• ESG Learning Series – Net Zero & GHG Emissions
• ESG Learning Series – Sustainability Awareness
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) certification
• Cybersecurity awareness training
• Data privacy awareness training (focus on GDPR, PDPD)

Tech-enabled ESG

Standardising and simplifying the data gathering, transformation and reporting tasks in the ESG reporting lifecycle using data technology and other automated solutions. Our digital assets include:

• ESG Reporting Tool:

A cloud-based, centralised platform, designed to raise the quality of reporting.

• Emission Tracker:

Helps you aggregate, analyse and report carbon data. This allows ease of monitoring and managing of emission reduction and net-zero initiatives.