At the 2022 Benchmark ESG Impact Conference, attendees participated in an insightful panel discussion ‘ESG Reporting: Frameworks and Strategies for ESG Success’ and discussed strategies to report ESG metrics under globally accepted frameworks, including GRI, CDP, BRSR, and more, to meet regulatory & investor demands.
We were so excited to hear from our moderator Shankar Rajagopalan (ESG Consultant) and panelists Kevin Chothani (SGM-SHE at Sekura Energy), Phanindra LR (Senior EHS Manager at GE Healthcare), Kinjal Dawda (Lead Program Manager – Sustainability at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories), Prarthana Borah (Director India CDP), and Pallavi Atre (Sustainability Expert at GRI South Asia.)
Here are the four key takeaways from the panel.
1. Companies in India are Increasingly Participating in Climate Disclosure
“Disclosure is when you are presenting information and are ready to do something,” said Prarthana Borah, Director, CDP India as she looked at how Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has seen a yearly increase of almost 30 to 40 percent in climate change, water, and forest disclosure in India in the past three years.
The trend emerges from the changing regulatory landscape across the world with many countries including India making climate disclosures mandatory for businesses. Additionally, as more and more companies recognize the risks and opportunities presented by climate change, they are eager to take climate action and reduce their impact and footprint.
2. Data is the Key to Persuade Business Leaders to Enhance ESG Ambitions
In today’s ESG landscape, leadership and management buy-in is crucial to build successful ESG programs, meet ESG and sustainability goals, and enhance ESG performance. Addressing this reality, Pallavi Atre emphasized the importance of adopting a data-driven approach in persuading business leaders to embrace and enhance ESG ambitions. Data can make it easier for decision-makers to take a stand when compared to other vaguer anecdotal approaches.
3. Climate Action takes Centre Stage in Organizations’ Sustainability Goals
Phanindra LR looked at how the organization has seen the overall structure of its Sustainability Reporting program take shape in the past two years. This year, GE Healthcare is focusing on achieving its commitment to 100% renewable energy and reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions – making climate action a critical component of its goals.
Panelists complemented this discussion around corporate India stepping up and defining sustainability goals, exploring how companies are reporting ESG metrics under various frameworks including BRSR, GRI, CDP, SASB, and more! Investment-grade ESG data is critical to achieve these ambitious ESG goals and technology is enabling organizations to achieve their goals and accelerate their journey to net zero.
4. Technology is Critical in Meeting Organization’s ESG Goals
Referring to Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories’ Sustainability goals, Kinjal Dawda said that the organization is aiming to ensure transparent disclosures, improve sustainability performance, and report ESG metrics in the best way possible while maintaining their current business and continuing to serve patients by producing medicines. She emphasized the importance of technology in helping organizations achieve their goals at every step of their ESG and sustainability programs.
In their quest to achieve zero waste targets and optimize their sustainability program, technology has emerged as a key enabler for Dr. Reddy’s. Additionally, Kevin Chothani suggested that technology plays an important role in helping organizations effectively disclose ESG metrics to key stakeholders.
He suggested that organizations should define their ESG performance KPIs based on their own risks and opportunities and explored how Benchmark ESG’s digital solutions can help in seamlessly reporting ESG metrics.
Learn More About How Benchmark’s ESG Reporting Solutions Can Help You Report Investment-Grade ESG Data and Transform ESG Performance
From corporate India increasingly disclosing climate metrics to the need to adopt a data-driven approach to involve leadership in achieving your ESG goals, technology can support you at every level of your ESG program. With Benchmark’s ESG reporting solutions, you can operationalize your sustainability data, seamlessly collecting enterprise-wide ESG data on a single platform and successfully report it under globally accepted frameworks including CDP, GRI, BRSR, SASB, and more!
Click on the link below for more highlights from the panel! https://brandfolder.com/s/v939rpmvcw97q866tr8rnvj
