However, one of the great challenges of sustainability indicators has always been subjectivity, requiring companies to find more appropriate and efficient ways to demonstrate their non-financial information.
Data from the survey ESG and Public Companies, carried out by Grant Thornton Brasil, XP Inc. and Fundação Dom Cabral, show that most organizations consider the assessment of socio-environmental risks a priority, but that there are still difficulties in dealing with the subjectivity of ESG aspects: only 21% of participants indicated they have quantifiable metrics to analyze the ESG performance of the most relevant aspects for the organization.
Another point revealed by the survey is the way to communicate your information regarding sustainability. Clear and recurrent reporting of ESG data is a reality for 43% of companies and only 23% disclose their ESG information in a structured way in a Sustainability Report.
The sustainability reporting strategy used by the organization, as well as the content disclosed, is an essential part of demonstrating the organization's maturity in relation to ESG aspects.
In this sense, ESG indicators need to show how the business generates value over time, the associated risks and impacts and, above all, the management of them. For this, the selection of suitable indicators is essential.
The lack of a global ESG taxonomy and of standardization in the classification system of sustainability initiatives has been identified as one of the main challenges for the various sectors of activity to comply with best practices. Despite this, there are a series of nationally and internationally recognized guides that help organizations to identify the relevant topics to consider for their business and define management and reporting metrics on them.
While governments, financial institutions and regulators move towards the definition of guidelines to be followed, it is important that companies are attentive and follow the definitions related to their sectors or countries that are part of the systems to which they are inserted. At the moment, a proactive organizational attitude is important, so that in the medium, or even in a shorter term than we imagine, they can absorb the demands coming from the related parties more quickly and calmly.
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