Sustainability & ESG
How an organisation treats the environment and the people around it is now a governance question.
ESG stands for environmental, social and governance, and it describes how an organisation affects the world and how the world affects it. Climate and resource use, working conditions and community impact, ethical conduct and transparency: investors, lenders, regulators and customers ask about all of them, and expect answers the organisation can support.
Reporting expectations are developing: the ISSB's IFRS S1 and S2 standards, the European Union's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and stock exchange guidance such as the JSE's in South Africa all set out what organisations are expected to disclose. For a board, the question is not whether the topic is fashionable but which issues are material to this particular organisation, and whether the information it reports is reliable. Claims that cannot be backed up carry their own risk. Sustainability that is built into strategy, targets and reporting is worth far more than a statement attached to the annual report.
This theme is about understanding what ESG means in practice, how it connects to risk and strategy, and how to report on it honestly.
Directors and trustees, sustainability and risk officers, investment committees, and executives responsible for reporting.