We understand that implementing best practice on an issue as all-encompassing as ESG can be a daunting process. Our toolkit integrates our legal, human rights and business expertise into a tool to help businesses benchmark their current practices and implement measures to improve.
Cost
£1,250 plus VAT (total £1,500)
Purchase:
Why choose the Ardea International toolkit?
As part of our extensively researched toolkit you will be able to assess your business’ performance across 10 themes. This can be carried out internally, at your own pace, and comes in a consolidated package, without the need to determine how ESG performance should be measured.
The toolkit is designed to highlight priority next steps to suit the needs of your business. By incorporating a wide range of measurements, the toolkit’s results can drive improvement across the board. Its value is therefore not limited to improving your organisation’s ESG rating.
Also, and importantly, the scorecard puts your organisation’s ESG performance into context, showing how it compares to that of other organisations. This will allow you to understand whether your business is benefitting from the competitive and financial advantages of strong ESG performance.
What is ESG?
The term “ESG’ is commonly used to refer to environmental, social and governance matters relevant to a company’s strategy and operations. Broadly speaking, the three elements cover:
- Environment factors refer to the company’s behaviour on environmental issues such as resource depletion, climate change, waste and pollution.
- Social factors are related to the company’s treatment regarding people, workers and local communities, including health and safety issues.
- Governance factors refer to corporate policies and governance, including tax strategy, corruption, structure, remuneration.
It considers how each of these factors may bring increased risk to a company. For example, how water scarcity may affect a business’ operation and how they mitigate that risk. With increasing attention on ESG matters, organisations should ensure that their policies and procedures are legally compliant and aligned with international standards.
Why do businesses need to address their ESG performance?
Consideration of ESG issues is becoming critical to long-term competitive success. The two main drivers for measuring and improving ESG performance are attracting investment and increasing long-term resilience.
More and more institutional investors are looking for businesses capable of articulating a sustainable strategy that outlines not just growth opportunities, but also the related risks. ESG criteria are used by socially-conscious investors and shareholders to screen investments and can help companies gather and retain funding. Legislation is also set to increase momentum towards ESG investment. For example, the EU Regulation on sustainability (environmental, social and governance (ESG)) disclosures in the financial services sector will apply from March 2021.
The reason investors are taking note of companies’ ESG credentials is that there is a clear correlation between ESG and financial performance. This is in part due to companies being better equipped to adapt to changing socio-economic and environmental conditions than industry competitors. The flexibility afforded by integrated ESG policies can unlock significant opportunities for growth. Also, proactive policies and procedures bolster organisations’ capacity to adapt to new ESG-related legislation, further reducing reputational and financial risks.
What’s included within the toolkit?
- A detailed checklist consisting of a series of 100 questions to help your business identify the policies and procedures it currently has in place. This will help to determine what steps are necessary to improve overall ESG performance.
- A scorecard to help your organisation benchmark its current performance against international best practice. It can be used on a continuous basis to track progress toward developing robust due diligence procedures to manage the organisation’s ESG risks.
Cost
£1,250 plus VAT (total £1,500)
Purchase:
Consultancy support
If you would like us to review your answers to the questions, provide support in answering any queries and deliver a report based on the answers with key recommendations for next steps, please get in touch via colleen.theron@ardeainternational.com