As demand for efficient sustainability and ESG reporting grows, Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability (EHS&S) professionals need to be mindful that investors will increasingly expect companies and organisations to provide them with performance data that can be verified.
What’s driving the interest in sustainability and ESG reporting?
The European Commission’s decision to move to a mandatory Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) has been driven in part by growing demands for enhanced non-financial information as well as large stakeholder consultation. The ultimate aim is to bring sustainability reporting on par with financial reporting. The CSRD is one strand in an ambitious and comprehensive package of measures, which have been designed to enable investors to reorient investments towards more sustainable technologies and businesses.
The long-term intention is to make the European Union a global leader in setting standards for sustainable finance. In a move designed to help companies disclose the correct sustainability information, but also in response to growing investor pressure for voluntary ESG disclosures, a multitude of sustainability and ESG frameworks, regulations and standards have emerged.
Related: The Role of Digital Transformation and ESG in Sustainable Finance
Why should sustainability and ESG matter to your organisation?
As investors exert greater pressure on organizations to provide complete, accurate and timely information that demonstrates a commitment to ESG objectives, EHS&S professionals are uniquely placed to drive performance improvements and maintain a competitive edge. Through their collection and analysis of critical data, they can maximize software use to identify areas for improvement, increase efficiencies and provide assurance through defensible audit trails.
What are the advantages of a single sustainability solution that also covers compliance and risk?
Besides the compliance and regulatory commitments that companies and organisations are legally required to fulfill, growing investor demand for accurate data on sustainability and ESG performance has resulted in a multitude of voluntary reporting systems. Measuring this data can, however, present significant challenges for organisations. It’s no secret that EHS&S professionals collect vast streams of critical data across multiple programmes and sites, which is not only time consuming and resource intensive but also prone to human error.
A unified EHS software platform means environmental, health and safety professionals can effectively track and manage complex operations in real-time to create more accurate and auditable data. By creating consistent, streamlined, and easy-to-follow processes, users can proactively manage all compliance management requirements across an entire organisation, avoiding any duplication or human error.
A sustainability solution that also covers compliance and risk means users can prioritise actions and resources, enhance occupational health and safety, prevent potential incidents, avoid regulatory action, and protect brands.
Learn more about sustainability and ESG
As the sustainability and reporting landscape changes, organisations need an understanding of where they stand based on their current footprint and what their risks and opportunities might be, so they can confidently navigate the situation as it continues to evolve.
For more information on the ESG frameworks and regulations in the European market and how software can help you stay on top of them and your sustainability goals, read The Certainty Factor: How Sustainability and ESG is Driving Corporate and Investment Decisions.
