Create a more sustainable business with ESG 

Business activities affect people, the environment and society on many levels. As a result, there is a growing need for companies to take responsibility and build a credible sustainability profile - a need that will only grow in the future. From the 2024 financial year, new EU legislation (the CSRD Directive) requires many of the largest companies to report on sustainability through Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) metrics. From 2025, the requirements will be extended to even more companies.

Why is ESG beneficial for your business?

Regardless of size, the new ESG requirements could affect your business. As society moves towards a more sustainable future, understanding and implementing ESG principles at an early stage can help you: 

• Gain competitive advantage: Gain competitive advantage by staying ahead and actively working with ESG in a market where sustainability is becoming increasingly important
• Strengthen your reputation: Show your customers, employees and investors that you care about the future
• Minimize risks: Identify and manage potential risks related to ESG
• Innovate: Develop new sustainable products and services
• Attract talent: Attract and retain talented employees who want to work for a sustainable company.

SMEs: How to get started with ESG

Although SMEs are not yet directly covered by EU legislation (CSRD), they will still be affected. The increased focus on the value chain means that SMEs will face increasing demands for their sustainability profile and ESG data from their business partners. As a first step, SMEs can use the European Commission's voluntary reporting standard, VSME, which is designed to help smaller companies navigate sustainability data in a standardized and simplified way.

What does the voluntary standard contain?

The voluntary standard is built in 2 modules:

• Basic module with 12 disclosure requirements including applied reporting practices
• Extended module with the most typical data points requested by banks and other business partners.

The primary module, the Basic module, contains the most basic ESG disclosure points that SME business partners are expected to request as a result of the new regulatory requirements for sustainability reporting (CSRD).

Overview of the sustainability topics in the Basic Module
B1 - Rationale for development
B2 - Approaches, policies and future initiatives to promote a sustainable economy

Environmental metrics
B3 - Energy and greenhouse gas emissions
B4 - Air, water and soil pollution
B5 - Biodiversity
B6 - Water
B7 - Resource consumption, circular economy and waste management

Social metrics
B8 - Workforce: General characteristics
B9 - Workforce: Health and safety
B10 - Workforce: Compensation, collective agreements and training

Business behavior metrics
B11 - Convictions and fines related to corruption and bribery.

To add value to your ESG and sustainability work, it is crucial that you identify which ESG issues are important to your business and to your stakeholders (e.g. your major corporate customers or financial connections). Following on from this, you need to assess whether reporting according to the voluntary standard could be beneficial to you.

Should we help your business with ESG?

Navigating ESG concepts and guidelines can be challenging, so external advice may be necessary to get you on the right track faster. This is where a specialized accountant can be a valuable sparring partner in identifying the right ESG solution. Inforevision's experts are ready to help your company achieve a wide range of benefits, both in the short and long term.

Inforevision helps companies with:

• Overview and understanding: Get an overview of which ESG factors are relevant to your business and industry
• Sparring: We help you see how you can implement policies and processes that meet the requirements
• Compliance: We help ensure your business complies with all relevant laws and regulations
• Overall strategic advice: An auditor can help integrate ESG factors into the company's overall strategy
• Daily procedures: Get help implementing necessary procedures to make ESG factors part of daily operations
• Reporting: Produce credible and transparent ESG reports that meet applicable standards and requirements. 

Contact inforevision and let's talk about what you need and how we can help you prepare for future ESG requirements.

Read more:

> What is ESG and why are the rules being introduced?

> Who do the rules apply to?

> What are the requirements for sustainability reporting (CSRD)?