ESG, or environmental, social and governance, obligations are quickly becoming a decade-defining issue as the world becomes increasingly aware of the global impact of humans. In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority has made it mandatory for certain businesses to report data on their sustainability.
But ESG objectives are something that all businesses should think about. Here is a guide to doing just that.
Assessing and creating targets
As ESG can be attributed to lots of different areas within your workplace, you will first need to assess where you are at. For example, you could start by doing an anonymous well-being survey for your staff as part of your social obligations. The results will then tell you if there are any ways you can improve.
If you are a manufacturer, you can call upon professional auditors to assess the environmental status of your procedures. Their report will give you further areas to work on. If potential customers see that this is an area you are actively working on then this may translate into contracts and sales.
Environmental impact
As the name suggests, considering your environmental impact on the local and wider area is an important part of ESG. Not only does this mean the physical area, but also things like pollution, waste and energy consumption.
If you are looking to open a new factory or office building, you could employ an architect and building firm who design and create net zero buildings. This will reduce your carbon emissions in this project instantly.
You could also look at having a wider goal and eliminate any reliance on fossil fuels. This could mean swapping energy companies or suppliers.
Social: Health and wellbeing
Employees are the backbone of any company, so making sure they are looked after is important for themselves and your business.
Health and safety is a huge part of a workplace culture that needs to be reviewed regularly. Reviewing policies and procedures, undertaking new assessments to make sure policies are accurate and creating a safety culture among staff.
Part of this could also be looking at the diversity of your workforce and seeing if there are ways to diversify when you next go through the hiring process. This does not only relate to race but also age, gender and religion.
To ensure that you are meeting your targets, you should seek advice from an expert legal team. They will be able to help you set realistic goals as well as achieve them.
Governance
The final part of ESG is governance. A lot of the regulations surrounding this are already things you should be doing, such as paying a fair wage. You can also look into any suppliers you use and ensure they have high standards across their labour chain.
The gender pay gap is also something that you should investigate within your own company. This is a legal requirement as well as a social one.
