In Brief
- ESG strategies attract investors and capital. Major investment firms now consider ESG criteria in funding decisions. Without an ESG focus, your company risks limited access to capital.
- ESG programs help comply with regulations. Governments and agencies are creating more ESG laws and policies. Lacking a strategy, your company could face regulatory issues and legal challenges.
- ESG initiatives boost brand value and revenue. Customers prefer sustainable and socially-conscious brands. If your company lags on ESG, you risk losing customers and damaging your brand reputation.
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Environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria are standards companies and investors use to evaluate a company’s sustainability and ethics. An ESG roadmap is a strategic plan that outlines how a company will improve its ESG performance over time. Creating an ESG roadmap is essential for several reasons.
First, an ESG roadmap helps a company identify and prioritize the ESG issues that are most relevant and impactful to its business. A company can determine which ESG factors deserve the most attention and resources by evaluating risks and opportunities across environmental, social and governance areas.
An ESG roadmap provides a structured process for making these assessments comprehensively and strategically. Second, an ESG roadmap helps a company set concrete goals and targets for improving its ESG performance.
The roadmap enables a company to establish time-bound and measurable objectives, initiatives and key performance indicators to track short, medium and long-term progress. This helps ensure that ESG efforts are actionable and accountable.
Important Characteristics of ESG
The first element of an ESG roadmap is an assessment of the company’s current ESG practices and impacts. So this includes evaluating risks, opportunities, and performance across areas like carbon emissions, waste management, labor practices, data security, board diversity, and more.
A comprehensive assessment provides the foundation and starting point for the roadmap. The second element is identifying priority ESG issues. Based on the evaluation, companies determine which ESG factors are most significant to their business and stakeholders.
These priority issues are the focus of the ESG roadmap and targets. The third element is setting concrete goals and targets. Companies establish time-bound, measurable objectives and key performance indicators for each priority issue.
According to Tech Target, an ESG strategy helps companies identify and manage risks, gain competitive advantage, and build stakeholder trust. Many major companies have developed and implemented ESG roadmaps to strengthen their business and make a positive impact. Examples include:
Unilever
Unilever, the consumer goods giant, launched its Sustainable Living Plan in 2010, which aims to decouple business growth from environmental impact. The plan has ambitious targets around sustainability.
These include halving the environmental footprint of their products and sourcing 100% of agricultural raw materials sustainably. Unilever has already achieved zero waste to landfill in over 100 factories, and all their plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable.
Google’s sustainability strategy uses technology to tackle climate change and other environmental challenges. They are the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy and have committed to being carbon neutral.
Google also develops tools to optimize energy usage in its data centers and offices. They aim to apply their machine learning expertise to help others reduce emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change.
IKEA
The world’s largest furniture retailer, IKEA, launched its sustainability strategy, “People & Planet Positive,” 2012. The strategy aims to produce and consume in a sustainable way by promoting renewable energy, sustainable sourcing of raw materials, and a circular economy.
IKEA has invested over 500,000 solar panels in their buildings, owns over 300 wind turbines, and has committed to using only renewable energy by 2020. They are also working to make their products more sustainable using recycled and recyclable materials.
Disadvantages of Not Creating an ESG Strategy
Failing to develop an ESG strategy poses severe risks to your company’s access to capital, regulatory compliance, brand reputation, customer loyalty, talent acquisition, and cost management. An ESG program is vital for businesses today to thrive and build a sustainable future.
Limited Access to Capital
Your company risks losing access to capital from investors and lenders increasingly concerned with environmental, social and governance issues. Many major investment firms now factor ESG criteria into their funding decisions. Without a clear ESG strategy, your company may be viewed as an unattractive investment, limiting your options for raising capital.
Regulatory and Legal Troubles
You may face regulatory scrutiny and legal challenges. Governments and regulatory agencies are creating more laws and policies around ESG disclosures, emissions reductions, workplace practices and more. Lacking an ESG strategy, your company will struggle to comply with new regulations and could face significant fines or legal consequences.
Brand and Revenue Damage
Your company may lose customers and revenue. Consumers today often prefer to support brands that align with their values. If your company is perceived as lagging on ESG, especially environmental sustainability or social impact, it could damage your brand reputation and loyalty. Customers may choose competitors they view as more ethical and eco-friendlier.
Talent Shortages
Your company risks losing and struggling to attract top talent. Employees, especially younger generations, want to work for companies that share their values. Without a strong ESG program, your company may be seen as an undesirable place to build a career. So this can hurt your ability to recruit and retain the best employees.
Missed Opportunities
An ESG strategy can drive improvements in efficiency, renewable energy use, waste reduction and more. These initiatives can lower costs through resource optimization and the adoption of sustainable technologies and processes. Lacking an ESG focus, your company misses out on these opportunities to strengthen its bottom line while benefiting the environment and society.
Benefits of an ESG Roadmap
An ESG roadmap helps companies identify and mitigate risks across environmental, social and governance areas. By evaluating ESG risks and performance, companies can determine their risk exposure and materiality.
According to Green Biz, businesses can implement initiatives to reduce risks, prevent crises, and safeguard long-term business viability. For example, transition risks from climate change, human rights risks in the supply chain, or lack of board diversity. An ESG roadmap provides a structured process for risk assessment and management.
Increased Opportunities
While managing risks, companies can also uncover new opportunities. An ESG roadmap helps companies discover opportunities for innovation, cost savings, new products, and accessing new markets.
According to McKinsey, energy efficiency measures can reduce costs, sustainable products can tap into green consumer demand, and strong governance and transparency can build investor trust. By focusing on priority ESG issues, companies can pursue the most relevant and valuable opportunities.
Improved Reputation and Trust
Companies that demonstrate a commitment to ESG issues through a roadmap can enhance their reputation and build stakeholder trust. Communicating concrete ESG goals, targets, and progress helps convey that companies are responsible and ethical and helps tackle issues like climate change.
It can strengthen relationships with customers, employees, investors, and communities. Studies show that ESG transparency and performance are correlated with higher trust and brand value.
Better Access to Capital
Companies may find it easier to raise funds if they have a robust ESG roadmap and performance. ESG-focused investors seek companies with clear ESG strategies, goals, and progress.
A roadmap demonstrates to investors that ESG is an organizational priority and the company is well-positioned to manage ESG risks and opportunities. So this can give investors more confidence in the company and open doors to ESG-linked financing opportunities.
Improved Employee Engagement
An ESG roadmap helps companies engage and motivate employees around sustainability. By involving employees in developing the roadmap, companies can determine which ESG issues matter most to them. And by reporting on progress, companies show employees that their input is valued and impacts are being made.
Enhanced Business Performance
Evidence shows that companies with strong ESG performance and transparency tend to outperform their peers financially. A well-developed ESG roadmap can help drive better operational performance, reduce costs, spur innovation, and open up new revenue streams—all of which contribute to the bottom line.
For example, eco-efficiency measures can cut costs, new sustainable products can increase sales, and strong governance and ethics reduce the risk of financial penalties and legal issues.
Streamlined Decision Making
An ESG roadmap helps bring sustainability into business planning and decision-making. By identifying priority ESG issues and key performance indicators, companies can evaluate new policies, projects, products, and partnerships through an ESG lens.
Thus, they can assess how these decisions might impact their ESG targets and performance and make choices that align with their sustainability vision and values. Integrating ESG into decision-making helps ensure it is a strategic priority, not just an add-on.
Staying Ahead of Regulations
Regulations on ESG issues are increasing, from climate change and human rights to diversity and data privacy. Companies that voluntarily develop ESG roadmaps and improve performance are well-positioned to adapt to new rules and expectations.
The purpose is to anticipate new regulations, proactively make changes, and influence policy development. So those that lag risk facing higher costs of compliance, legal issues and damaged reputations. An ESG roadmap helps future-proof companies and builds leadership on these critical issues.
How to Create an ESG Roadmap?
Creating a practical ESG roadmap requires assessing material issues, setting ambitious goals, developing KPIs and action plans, reporting and disclosing, securing leadership buy-in, allocating resources, building a culture of sustainability and collaborating with stakeholders.
An ESG strategy must be integrated, transparent and aim for continuous improvement to drive real change. Corporations can achieve business success and sustainability leadership through hard work and perseverance.
Conduct Materiality Assessment
A materiality assessment helps identify and prioritize the environmental, social and governance issues most relevant and significant to your business and stakeholders, which involves analyzing risks, impacts, and opportunities.
It also involves engaging stakeholders through surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The output is a matrix that maps the material issues by importance to stakeholders and significance to business success. Focus your ESG strategy on the problems in the top right quadrant.
Sustainable development goals
Develop qualitative goals and quantitative targets for each material issue. Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). They must also align with global standards.
For instance, this includes the UN Sustainable Development Goals. A goal to “reduce emissions” is not specific enough. A SMART goal would be “reduce scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 50% by 2028 from a 2023 base year.”
Develop Key Performance Indicators
Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress towards your goals and targets. KPIs should be based on measurable metrics and data. For emissions targets, KPIs could include total GHG emissions (tCO2e).
It also includes emission intensity (tCO2e/unit of production) and percentage of renewable energy used (%). KPIs need to be monitored regularly with accountability at the management and board level.
Create Action Plans
Detail specific actions required to achieve each goal and target. Action plans should have clear owners, timelines, budgets, and resources allocated. They must address root causes and prioritize high-impact actions. An action to meet a “50% emissions reduction by 2028” goal could be “transition fleet vehicles to electric by 2024.” Action plans should be integrated into business plans and strategies.
Report and Disclose
Publish an annual sustainability report disclosing your ESG goals, targets, KPIs, and progress. Use a recognized framework like GRI to provide transparency and allow for benchmarking.
Disclose climate-related risks and opportunities as per the TCFD recommendations. Obtain external assurance for key metrics to build credibility. Disclose ESG information on your website and consider sustainability reporting platforms like SASB.
Continuously Improve
Review and refresh your ESG strategy and roadmap regularly based on progress, feedback, and business or external environment changes. Advance goals and set more ambitious targets over time.
Improve data accuracy and integrity. Increase the scope and depth of disclosures. Expand stakeholder engagement. An ESG strategy is a continual improvement process.
Secure Leadership Buy-In
Obtain support and commitment from leadership, especially the CEO and board of directors. According to EHS, leadership buy-in is essential for success and accountability. Educate leaders on the business case for ESG and how it links to company vision and values.
Request leaders to visibly and vocally champion the ESG strategy internally and externally. Establish governance structures that embed ESG into decision-making and oversight. Possibilities include:
- Assign ESG responsibilities to board members
- Create a board sustainability committee
- Appoint a Chief Sustainability Officer who reports directly to the CEO
- Link executive compensation to ESG goals and targets
- Provide ESG training and education for leaders and employees
Allocate Adequate Resources
Dedicate resources for implementing and sustaining your ESG roadmap. It includes both financial resources as well as human capital. ESG strategies often require investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction, etc.
Staff will be needed to oversee and coordinate the ESG strategy, collect and analyze data, engage with stakeholders, and prepare a sustainability report. Besides, build awareness and support for your ESG strategy across the organization through communication and engagement.
Educate employees on sustainability issues and the company’s approach. Provide training on new sustainable practices and behaviors. Recognize and reward teams and individuals that champion sustainability.
Engage employees through sustainability networks and committees. A culture of sustainability will ensure ESG is embedded into daily business activities and decision-making at all levels.
Collaborate and Partner
Work with stakeholders, industry peers, NGOs, and policymakers on sustainability challenges and solutions. Collaboration amplifies your impact and helps address issues that no organization can solve alone.
You can collaborate by joining industry associations and multi-stakeholder initiatives, participating in conferences and events, sponsoring and donating to NGOs, and co-developing tools, standards and public policy. Partnerships with suppliers and customers can also drive change across the value chain.
Final Words
A robust ESG strategy is crucial for companies today to manage risks, seize new opportunities, and build a sustainable future. By failing to prioritize ESG, your company could face significant consequences to its access to capital, compliance and legal standing, brand and revenue, talent acquisition, and bottom line.
However, with a clear ESG roadmap, your company can strengthen its competitive position, foster innovation, cut costs, and make a positive impact. The path forward is clear: to make ESG a strategic imperative and take action today. Until Next Time!
Author
By Shantala Hickey,
ESG, Sustainability Supply Chain Manager
Shantala joined GPSI’s team in 2022, following her post-graduate diploma in Environmental Management. She is responsible for the ESG Division and the corporate social responsibility strategy. Before joining GPSI, she held several management positions at Bombardier Aerospace as well as Galderma, a company operating in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry. She has more than 15 years of experience in procurement, logistic, and production planning. The environment and sustainable development are undoubtedly her greatest passions.
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