EHS+S: HOW SHOULD COMPANIES ALIGN EHS AND SUSTAINABILITY FOR A MORE HOLISTIC APPROACH?
R&C: How would you describe the rising importance of tracking environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance as a business imperative? To what extent is this driving companies beyond traditional compliance solutions?
Adeline: Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing is becoming the norm, so if you are not being aggressive about getting a strong framework in place and tracking ESG risks and performance, you are already losing traction with investors. Likewise, consumers are developing a new awareness of an organisation’s ability to track things like sustainability, and they are directing their spending to companies that demonstrably follow through on ESG reporting. From a regulatory standpoint, ESG disclosures may soon stop being a choice. In the European Union (EU), the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is already in place, and it is signalling that the regulatory floodgates around ESG are about to open wide.
R&C: What considerations related to ESG typically fall under the purview of environmental, health and safety (EHS)?
Adeline: Environmental health and safety (EHS) and ESG are closely intertwined, with environment being the greatest overlap. EHS teams already are responsible and have experience in managing ESG issues around environment, worker health & safety and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. How can the business reduce water and energy waste? How bad are air emissions? What is the carbon footprint? Are waste management programmes working efficiently and properly disposing of hazardous waste? Is the supply chain optimised for sustainability? EHS teams keep an eye on these considerations, ensuring the business is currently compliant with all applicable regulations while also developing plans to keep the organisation ahead of future regulation. But more importantly, EHS teams will most likely have the data that stakeholders and investors want to see for ESG reporting.
Oct-Dec 2021 Issue
SAI360