ESG Central

More and more, business leaders are expected to develop a strategic, systematic approach to ESG and integrate ESG risk management into their financial business model. ESG has quickly evolved from an optional public relations reporting initiative into an increasingly mandatory, investor-driven reporting requirement. A company’s ESG performance is now closely correlated to its share price or its ability to raise capital. Beyond investors, consumers are also making many purchasing decisions based on ESG standards, such as how a company treats its workers and the environment. To put it simply: people, the planet, and profits are now truly linked, and ESG is the way to show you’re running your business responsibly. No matter the size of your business, a sharper focus on ESG provides many advantages you can’t afford to ignore.

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The easiest way to think of materiality is as a relevancy filter for the issues that matter most to an organization. Something is considered “material” – or relevant – if it could influence the decision-making of stakeholders regarding the company. Materiality can help an organization choose solid ESG management objectives to structure a program around. It is considered best practice to conduct a materiality assessment as a first step to determine which goals or objectives make the most sense for a business, based on stakeholder priorities.

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Successful ESG revolves around a strategy, not just starting out blindly. ESG strategy is about being proactive versus responsive, and it should be based on the organization’s internal journey, aligning with the organization’s values. To make the pivot from traditional EHS management to an ESG focus, first take stock of where your company is today on its sustainability journey. Then identify the key stakeholders that will move the program forward. Those stakeholders should be surveyed through a materiality assessment to determine which ESG goals and targets the company should work toward. With that groundwork laid, you can take the right steps toward developing an ESG strategy that works to bring your organization into the future.

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Yes, there are. While many people still think of ESG disclosure frameworks as being largely voluntary, there are in fact regulations addressing many aspects of ESG.

First, we shouldn’t forget that EHS is part of ESG, and there is a universe of EHS regulations that company leaders need to know about, many of which create significant work in terms of compliance obligations. For example, in the United States, OSHA issues regulations regarding workplace safety, some of which, such as the HazCom Standard and the Recordkeeping Standard, apply to most employers covered by the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970. The HazCom Standard requires employers to maintain safety data sheets (SDSs) for all hazardous chemicals, a written Hazard Communication Plan, and a hazardous chemical inventory list, as well as to ensure that all containers containing hazardous chemicals are labeled and that all employees who work with these chemicals receive proper training. The Recordkeeping Standard requires many employers to document workplace injuries and illnesses that meet general or specific recording criteria on Forms 300 and 301, as well to complete, sign and post the Form 300A summary report from February 1 to April 30th of each year. A subset of those employers also needs to electronically submit 300A data to OSHA each year, and all employers covered by the OSH Act need to report certain serious workplace incidents directly to OSHA. There are analogous regulations in other jurisdictions, such as in Canada, which has the Workplace Hazardous Information System (WHMIS) Standard for chemical hazard communication and provincial worker’s compensation board requirements to report occupational injuries and illnesses.  

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We’re getting that question quite a bit, because it seems that many EHS professionals are learning about ESG and are either being “voluntold” to manage their company’s ESG programs or realizing there are many professional development opportunities and career pathways open to the professional who makes the effort to learn about ESG.  While there’s no universally applicable answer to this question, we can give a few tips based on our own subject matter expertise and awareness of common organizational pain points. 

First, master the foundation of EHS. As you know, you already have plenty of EHS tasks to manage, like investigation of injuries, development and tracking of corrective actions, management of safety meetings and training, inspections, keeping up with your chemical management and hazard communication responsibilities, and completion of reports, some of which may stem from regulatory requirements. Many EHS professionals are struggling to manage these tasks without the tools or support they need, which makes it difficult if not impossible to start taking on additional ESG projects.  

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