Things to Include In Your Sustainability Report
Sustainability reporting is becoming increasingly common as companies in all industries strive to raise their awareness of challenges related to climate change.
It’s a useful strategy that increases accountability and promotes continuous CSR (corporate social responsibility) and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) activities by effectively disseminating a company’s stance on sustainable development.
Companies that engage outsource accounting services and let the experts handle business documentation can implement the best sustainability reporting procedures.
If you are unfamiliar with sustainability reporting and what you should include in it, keep reading to learn more.
Overview of Sustainability Reporting
A sustainability report describes how a company will make its operations more sustainable and how close it is to achieving important goals.
It lays out an organization’s ESG objectives while emphasizing the steps necessary to achieve goals for environmental, social, and ethical challenges.
Sustainability reporting is regarded as an ESG-defining standard. It’s an open method of describing a company’s environmental and social responsibility—two qualities that are quickly turning into requirements for obtaining shareholder money and consumer support.
However, the goal of sustainability reporting goes beyond enhancing external impressions and reputation. Additionally, it offers a useful method for spotting dangers and openings, enabling companies to adjust to shifting social and environmental best practices.
Top 5 Things to Include in a Sustainability Report
Following are the top 5 things you should include in a sustainability report:
1. Vision Statement
Making a statement about your report’s sustainability vision is a good place to start. Consider this your overall perspective on ESG problems; it should reflect your philosophy and views and how your company can advance a more sustainable future.
It may be beneficial to be audacious and forward-thinking when developing a vision statement, but try to avoid grandiose concepts outside your organization’s capacity for profit.
While ESG-conscious investors will want to see a forward-thinking strategy, they can be put off if your vision statement goes beyond the scope and development of your company.
2. Sustainability Issues to Address
Introduce the issues you’ve identified as critical areas of action for your company directly from your vision statement.
This shows that you understand the importance of sustainable development and have successfully set the scene for the rest of your report, giving your goals, objectives, and aspirations more weight.
Although the problems you name are extremely subjective, they often include energy waste on your property, a lack of sustainable materials, supply chain traceability, and plastic waste.
This situation calls for a comprehensive plan, so make sure to include in your list of problems important stakeholders (like managers and supervisors) from all over your company.
3. Existing Conditions
Transparency and honesty are essential since the first portions of your sustainability report are all about where your company stands.
Here, describing the current state of sustainability issues might be a useful method to contextualize your plan and show the advancements you’ve already made toward making your company more sustainable.
4. Goals
Setting targets and goals is related to the particulars of your ESG strategy. Here, it’s important to write down goals that your company can reach and act on right away and over time.
Outlining attainable goals and objectives is made considerably easier because you’ve previously recognized problems and stated them in the report’s initial section.
For instance, one of your goals may be to cut plastic waste by “X” percent by 2023 or decrease energy waste by purchasing energy-efficient equipment or better insulation.
Try to include one or more objectives that address the important concerns mentioned previously in the paper. This shows a systematic strategy that will be successful in the long run, which investors will be eager to witness.
5. CEO Statement
An excellent method to make the report more relatable is to include a statement from the CEO (whether you or someone else) at the end of your sustainability report.
It allows the company to communicate its intentions to shareholders, business partners, and clients while reinforcing its commitment to increased sustainability.
Draw from your unique company goals and your vision statement to create a statement that combines the two and expresses your commitment to enhancing ESG practices.
And to further demonstrate your dedication to the subject, encourage readers to get in touch with you if they have any enqueries in the last paragraph.
Conclusion
It is recommended to emphasize the data that is both the most relevant and the most useful for stakeholders when preparing a company’s sustainability report. This entails prioritizing indicators that reveal areas where the company may develop.
Keep in mind that you can always rely on the experts by engaging an outsourced accounting service for sustainability reporting, and make a comprehensive and reliable report.
