How can small and medium businesses tackle Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)?

Answering the challenge that the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) agenda presents is hard for small to medium enterprises (SMEs). They face different challenges to larger companies and have different resources in terms of time and money. It’s unrealistic to expect a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) to hire a dedicated internal head of sustainability or ESG. So inevitably it will fall to someone with a ‘day job’ already. 

Elephants Child can help. We advise small and medium businesses engage with ESG and incorporate it into business practice. One very helpful tool is the Eevery software package as part of a crucial initial audit phase. We were delighted to hear from Dominic Buch of Eevery recently who talked us through in more detail how an ESG audit works and how it can add value to your business. We’re delighted to share some of the highlights. 

 

 

Eevery is a subscription software platform that has been designed specifically to help SMEs to measure, improve, and communicate their sustainability or their ESG performance

“We find that most businesses have probably taken some baby steps in identifying activities which probably fit under the banner of ESG, whether that’s under the environmental column, or the social column, but they find it difficult to sometimes put into practice holistically. Communicating their performance, their measurements and their ESG journey to their stakeholders will inevitably help them win more business or attract and retain great staff. It can create more financial value in the business or help access a wide range of financing debt or equity financing. 

“The first measurement Eevery can help with is identifying the impact that a company has on the world around them – an important first step. Each business has a different impact on the environment, the society and the economy in which it operates. And obviously, each business is going to have a governance structure that reflects the particulars of its business. Put simply, what a recruitment business should be doing for example when it comes to environmental performance is going to be very different to what an engineering business should be doing. The measurement is a two-stage assessment starting with an impact scan to build a profile of the company by asking questions about its sector, their size, their location, the location of their subsidiaries, how they view themselves, their use of energy, water, their generation of waste etc.  

 

“This then generates the ESG assessment, which is the larger piece of audit work. Once we know the profile of your business and what your impact is – we know what you should be doing. Detailed assessment follows which establishes a score against a range of factors, depending on your sector. It could be related to waste management or to workplace policies and financial governance. This effectively measures your ESG performance in a tailored way according to your sector and where you need to focus resources. But our support doesn’t stop there. It’s not just a simple report that could say ‘here are 70 things that you need to do otherwise, you’re failing at ESG’. Eevery allows us to offer curated or bespoke improvement programmes for a business. We’ll take what could be a long list of improvements, prioritise it and help you decide what will make the most yards in terms of improving your ESG performance. 

Other ways Eevery can help include:

1. 1. 1. CO2 Calculator: An easy-to-use tool; enter a small amount of data to find out not only your CO2 emissions, but also a breakdown of the emissions per business category and relevant, quantifiable KPIs. Use these results to create your CO2 reduction plan and set reduction targets.
      2. Consultative Support: Proactive guidance and support to make real change and realise your sustainability potential.
      3. Ecosystem: Partners with different areas of expertise with sustainability as a shared mission. Each collaboration is unique and tailored to everyone’s needs.

Working with our partners, elephants child offer real, practical, value for money solutions to help you navigate the world of ESG. Get in touch.