We work with clients to integrate a culture of sustainability across an organization and ensure sustainability goals are understood and met by identifying what to measure and how to report on it. We then work with our clients to create annual sustainability reports.
Companies that systematically integrate sustainability into their strategy will be better positioned to adapt and respond to emerging environmental and social issues that impact long-term value creation. Our consultants work primarily with small and medium sized companies to help them effectively communicate their sustainability performance to key stakeholders. We advise companies on the corporate sustainability disclosures that matter most to investors and identify opportunities to provide quantifiable, time-bound metrics in key areas of performance. In close collaboration with our clients, we help to develop a careful process for transparent disclosures, monitor relevant country-specific regulations, and seek the appropriate balance between the disclosure of short-term and long-term performance metrics. We also have experience in integrated reporting. Our team brings specialist experience in the following reporting and disclosure frameworks and methods:
A certified B Corporation, or ‘B Corp,’ is a company which has been accredited for “meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency” by the non-profit organization B Lab. B Lab promotes a global movement towards using ‘business as a force for good,’ with the vision that businesses will compete to improve the world and create enduring prosperity. There are currently over 2,000 B Corps worldwide, across 54 countries. What are the key requirements for certification?
1. Performance: This is determined by taking the B Impact Assessment. This measures a company’s impact across the following themes: workers, governance, community, and the environment.
2. Transparency requirements: B Corps must make the summary of their assessment report publicly available.
3. Legal requirements: The company must also meet the legal requirement of the certification by requiring company directors to consider the interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
At ESG Counsel, we advise clients on how to achieve the threshold required for B Corporation certification, recommending what best practice looks like across each theme of the assessment: workers, governance, community, and environment.
The Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures is a voluntary, market-driven initiative which outlines a set of key recommendations aiming to enhance companies’ climate-related disclosure information in their existing financial and non-financial filings. In June 2017, TCFD released its recommendations on how companies should detail climate-related impacts in their financial reports. The TCFD recommendations address four key pillars: governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics & targets.
ESG Counsel can assist companies fulfill the recommendations outlined by the TCFD and develop customized solutions for managing climate risk.
We work with corporate clients that seek to better understand both the individual components of their ESG score, as well as how investors are evaluating them across the sustainable investing marketplace. We also advise clients who have established a strategic goal of improving their ESG score by helping them to understand ESG scoring methodologies and materiality. We work with these clients on understanding ESG benchmarks, goal setting, and implementing practice improvement plans including accountability incentives.