We help our clients align their ESG and sustainability disclosures to international best-practice standards, such as SASB, GRI and the CDP, and meet regulatory reporting requirements, like the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in Europe and the TCFD and SECR in the UK.
Simply Sustainable has decades of experience helping clients comply to the world’s most stringent ESG and sustainability reporting regulations, standards, frameworks and protocols. We help companies navigate the fast-changing reporting landscape, closely monitoring the emergence of new frameworks and regulation.
Our team has hands-on experience with a wide range of sustainability standards, frameworks and protocols and all EU, UK and US ESG regulations, including the most prominent and important in the market today:
- Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB):
SASB focuses on providing industry-specific sustainability metrics that are material to a company’s financial performance. It aims to deliver information that is relevant to investors. - Global Reporting Initiative (GRI):
The GRI is the most widely used framework for sustainability reporting. It provides a comprehensive set of indicators that cover a broad range of environmental, social and governance issues. - CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project):
CDP is an international non-profit organisation that helps companies and cities disclose their environmental impact across three primary topics; climate change, water, forests. The platform primarily facilitates transparent reporting and disclosure to drive sustainable practices across industries. With approximately 20,000 organisations disclosing data on climate change, water security and deforestation issues via CDP, 2022 set a new milestone for disclosure – a 38% increase since 2021 – including listed companies worth US$60.8 trillion (half of the global market capitalisation). - EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD):
The CSRD came into effect in January 2023 and is the most comprehensive and far-reaching sustainability reporting regulation to date. It makes non-financial reporting compulsory for approximately 50,000 European and non-European companies operating the EU markets, requiring them to report on a wide range of sustainability topics, from climate change, pollution and biodiversity to gender equality, human rights and risk management. - Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD):
The TCFD was created by the Financial Stability Board and provides set of reporting recommendations that enable companies to identify and manage risks associated with climate change and integrate these into their business strategy. - Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR):
The SECR came into effect in April 2019, coinciding with the end of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme. SECR applies to around 12,000 UK incorporated companies with its aims to bring the benefit of carbon and energy efficiency measures, with both economic and environmental benefits, to enable companies to cut costs and improve productivity. - Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS):
ESOS is a mandatory energy assessment scheme which was introduced by the UK government in 2014 to ensure large enterprises in the UK are monitoring energy consumption, efficiency and savings. Assessments are required every 4 years with the compliance period ends 5 December 2023 (extended to 5 June 2024). - Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi):
SBTi sets the best practice standard for science-aligned net-zero targets and emission reductions. For high-impact sectors the requirements are unique, e.g. FLAG, power and fuel, heavy metals and chemicals, ICT, transport, finance and textiles. - Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM):
CBAM puts a price on the embodied emissions associated with carbon-intensive goods and commodities entering the EU.
With our in-depth knowledge of the individual elements of the most prominent sustainability disclosure standards, we can pinpoint where a company has compliance and alignment gaps and how a company can improve its performance against different standards. Typically, this starts with a gap analysis, comparing the existing sustainability strategy, initiatives, policies and data against the requirements of the disclosure standard and identifying alignment gaps.
Next, we analyse how these can be closed, identifying quick wins and longer-term priorities. Based on these insights, we develop a pragmatic plan that outlines the steps for improving the company’s performance against the standard, which we subsequently help execute.
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