Blog
De-risking ESG disclosure challenges with technology and automated governance
Monday 7th August 2023
The latest ESG project management workflow platforms integrate and connect aspects of your ESG projects and programmes in one digital workplace. This includes plans and targets; external stakeholders and suppliers; team members, their roles and activities; as well as actual vs desired ESG performance. This enables leadership to monitor not just the required sustainability impacts and outcomes, but also the desired progress of ESG adoption achieved by internal and external stakeholders, individual business units, brands or subsidiaries, and as an entire organisation.
Additionally, the ability to draw out any data on any sustainability impacts and outcomes will no longer be a challenge, even if new levels of regulatory requirements to deliver different sustainability performance disclosures comes in, as this can easily be accommodated.
Leveraging RACI Matrix as part of Governance
The more sophisticated ESG platforms, such as myConsole, leverage built-in tools such as RACI Matrices, (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed) to deliver robust governance and clear audit trails across your business. RACI allocates each person in an organisation an agreed part in supporting the company's transition to ESG. Using RACI in the platform means people can see all the specific allocated actions and activities that have been assigned to them, via a personalised dashboard (with additional automated email reminders so no need to be always logged in). Using RACI as part of ESG governance means that a multitude of separate ESG projects can be monitored to measure and assess progress across sprints or workflow gateways; reviews can be conducted instantly, based on actual approvals made; and analytics can be delivered against budgets, actual performance, thresholds, and benchmarks.
De-risking ESG Failure
Leadership teams can therefore see their overall targeted performance and what milestones have been achieved across for example any desired Materiality Topic or ESG programme that has been given the green light and shared out across team members around the organisation irrespective of say geography or business unit. Success of ESG adoption is easily assessed as it is based upon workflows achieved and which assigned targets and actions are still outstanding. This provides another level of being able to make interventions in real time if there is a significant risk to the organisation.
Audit Trails using Workflows & Stage Gateways
By using pre-set or customisable automated built-in reviews and approvals for closing workflow stage gateways this provides the ability to draw out detailed audit reporting as complete audit trails of dates and times when people have signed off on their RACI actions so progress achieved can be monitored in real time. Leadership can have an instant window on where each business units is with the completion of their set of ESG programme activities and targets.