The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can provide a useful framework to organise a company’s Sustainability & CSR efforts. With ESG (Environmental, Social, & Governance) performance becoming an increasingly critical metric for stakeholders, adherence to SDGs quantify business operations in a relevant manner.
Companies that utilise the UN SDGs as part of their reporting framework can demonstrate achievements against relevant industry benchmarks, and benefit from the financial implications of positive sustainable performance – including increased access to capital.
Benefits of Adhering to the UN SDGs
✔ Strengthened stakeholder relations & reputation
✔ Improved supply chain visibility
✔ Demonstrate performance against industry benchmarks
✔ Reduce likelihood of litigation, and unforeseen costs
✔ Improved ESG performance, leading to financial benefits
But demonstrating adherence to the UN SDGs requires a robust and mature internal reporting framework, covering performance across the whole sustainability spectrum. If companies wish to benefit from sustainability initiatives, they must invest in suitable reporting tools to enable performance improvement.
Utilising the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Define Your Priorities
Every business faces unique sustainability challenges. The first step in aligning with the UN SDGs is identifying which issues are most relevant for a given company, creating a benchmark for future performance. Materiality assessments are a fundamental step in the process towards sustainable development.
However, creating an accurate – and actionable – materiality assessment can be challenging. Managing diverse expectations from business units, stakeholders, and communities requires a strong reporting framework. Using the Emex sustainability ESG reporting platform ensures every party is represented, with accurate data, to auditable standards such as the GRI. Storing materiality data on a responsive platform enables materiality reports to be completed annually – ensuring sustainability efforts are directed where they matter most.
Collect & Monitor Data
The usefulness of a sustainability strategy is defined by the quality of data collected. Whether a mining company is looking to reduce incidents and tailings waste, or a financial services firm is looking to improve representation and diversity – data has to be collected accurately to quantify performance. There is an increasing level of scrutiny levelled at non-financial disclosures in today’s markets, making data quality paramount for success.
The Financial Case
As non-financial disclosures come under increasing scrutiny, the need for accurate reports based on auditable data is at an all-time high. The UN SDGs represent a framework that allows achievements to be demonstrated against a recognised set of targets, and makes it easier for businesses to report on progress to stakeholders. The message is simple: good sustainability means good business in today’s markets, and this requires sufficient investment in reporting.
Enable your sustainability performance strategies
and prove business value with Emex.
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