As the spotlight on sustainable development intensifies globally, ESG reporting is rapidly transitioning from voluntary to mandatory. It started gaining traction early in 2020 as shown by the findings in a report by Carrots and Sticks which confirmed that ESG-based reporting is increasingly becoming mainstream:

● The number of ESG reporting provisions issued by governmental bodies grew by 74% between 2016 and 2020

● In the 80 countries surveyed, there were over 250 voluntary provisions and nearly 400 mandatory, government-led provisions in the ESG reporting space

Despite these developments, ESG reporting continues to be a predominantly voluntary choice for SMBs. Additionally, many SMBs also hesitate to commit to ESG reporting for various reasons such as:

● ESG reporting is perceived as a complex process

● Involves a lot of manual data management and reporting effort

● Requires significant time, money and skills

However, such concerns can be addressed with modern templatized SaaS platforms such as Treeni’s resustain™ SMB, which is based on a deep understanding of the limitations and challenges faced by SMBs.

How does resustain™ SMB improve your ESG reporting?

Acknowledging the benefits of ESG reporting from a long-term value creation perspective and understanding the specific needs of SMBs, Treeni has developed resustain™ SMB — an easy-to-use SaaS platform that helps businesses measure, monitor, manage and track their ESG data and performance.

resustain™ SMB, comes with out-of-the-box functionality outlined below, makes ESG reporting quick, easy, affordable and valuable for SMBs:

● Rapid deployment that gets SMBs up and running in days

● An affordable zero-touch, zero-code, zero-deployment fee model, that is perfect for small businesses

● Templatized reporting such as CDP, Ecovadis, BRSR etc. to address the needs of customers, investors, regulators etc.

Asking the right questions to kick-start your journey towards efficient ESG reporting

SMBs may face several challenges when considering ESG reporting. In the initial phase of consideration, asking the right questions can help bring direction. A few questions to ask themselves can be:

● Why should we do ESG reporting?

● Why should we improve ESG risk and performance management?

● How to get started with data collection for ESG reporting?

● What disclosure or reporting standards to use?

● How will ESG data help in decision-making?

resustain™ SMB from Treeni has been designed to provide answers to these fundamental questions, with a host of advanced and relevant features such as:

● Automated data collection for SMBs using predefined templates

● Insights for effective decision-making

● Simplified ESG data and performance management

● Templatized reporting to meet the expectations of the key stakeholders such as customers, investors, and regulators using disclosure standards of their choice (like CDP, Ecovadis, GRI, SDGs, BRSR etc.)

To enable effective and quick end-to-end ESG reporting, our team helps SMBs find the answers to some crucial questions. Here are the main concerns we help SMBs resolve:

1. Have you defined your target/sustainability goals?

Having sustainability goals can help SMBs use the ESG data from their reports, assess their progress and decide future courses of action. SMBs can use frameworks like the Science-Based Target Initiative (SBTi) to set achievable sustainability goals like reducing energy consumption, recycling, and waste management, to name a few.

The Solution:

The resustain™ SMB platform has the functionality to set sustainability goals and targets. SMBs can track their progress and work on the required process to achieve their ESG goals.

2. Which Scope 3 emissions categories apply to your SMB?

Scope 3 emissions result from the business’ upstream and downstream supply chain activities. Although not fully controllable, these parameters need reporting for transparent stakeholder engagement. To calculate the Scope 3 emissions, SMBs first need to identify which of the 15 categories apply to their business.

The Solution:

Our Saas-based platform helps identify the relevant Scope 3 reporting categories and automatically calculates the emissions based on the Scope 3 framework.

3. Have you aligned your ESG data with any global ESG reporting framework?

Some of the most important and well-established global ESG reporting frameworks are:

● (CDP) Carbon Disclosure Project reporting:

Adopted by over 13,000 companies, it focuses on the external environmental impacts of business operations and is suitable for large enterprises as well as their SMB Suppliers

● (GRI) Global Reporting Initiative reporting:

Globally, over 10,000 companies undertake GRI reporting today. GRI reporting is suitable for businesses with a broader stakeholder base and focuses on the ESG impact of the business

● (SASB) Sustainability Accounting Standards Board reporting:

Better suited for financial stakeholders, SASB focuses on the internal impact of ESG metrics on the financial performance of a business. Around 1,300 companies currently adopt it

Choosing the appropriate ones is important for SMBs to address important stakeholder demands.

The Solution:

The SMBs, who have not aligned their ESG data reporting with any global framework, can do so with the help of Treeni’s managed services. The managed service wrapper around the resustain™ SMB SaaS platform is a critical part of the solution for SMBs and involves helping through the entire process of understanding how to manage data, and could include manually collecting energy bills and transforming and digitising the data into emissions data, providing advice on which standard to report, what goals & targets to take on, how to improve performance etc.

4. Are you tracking and reporting the important social metrics around your business?

This question is a pertinent one that all SMBs need to address. Social aspects that ESG reporting must cover include diversity and inclusion, labour practices, wage equality, human rights, consumer protection and consumer relations, and are typically covered under ‘Responsible Sourcing’ and ‘Supplier Code of Conduct’ agreements with customers.

The Solution:

With resustain™ SMB, SMBs can gather valuable and accurate data about various social aspects of their business that customers want visibility into, such as:

● The working conditions and wages of employees

● The overall diversity of the workforce

● Specific issues such as child labour, anti-corruption

5. Does your business have good governance practices and meet the compliance and disclosure requirements in place?

Depending on the geographic region the SMBs operate in, they may have to comply with various local, regional and national laws and policies. SMBs must know that large clients will seek transparency around compliance with local laws, transparency and governance, anti-corruption-related data etc.

The Solution:

ESG reporting using resustain™ SMB helps SMBs disclose essential governance parameters transparently and accurately to all their stakeholders.

A Convenient Solution to ESG Reporting

With resustain™ SMB ESG reporting is neither complex nor expensive as feared by many SMBs. With resustain™ SMB, small and mid-sized businesses can confidently commit to ESG reporting, create long-term value and build a competitive edge.

Request a demo today to experience how this SaaS platform gives SMBs the benefit of easy and fast deployment. Let Treeni take care of your data management and ESG reporting requirements. Focus on your core business and let us help you achieve the ideal outcomes from ESG Reporting.

Ask for a resustain™ SMB demo

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