Explanation
The E is about the environment: energy, emissions, waste, water and raw materials. The S is about social topics: health and safety of employees, working conditions, training, equal treatment and how people in the chain are treated. The G is about governance: ethics, compliance, transparency and how decisions are made.
Investors, banks, insurers and large customers use ESG to assess how an organisation performs and which risks there are. That is why smaller companies also receive questions about ESG, for example in tenders. One way to give a uniform answer is a standard such as VSME.
ESG is not a standard and not a certificate, but a way to organise sustainability. Much of the data comes from your QHSE system: accidents and training for the social part, energy and waste for the environmental part. Which reporting applies to you depends on your organisation and on the current rules.
Example from practice
A construction company shares in a sustainability report figures on energy use (environment), on accidents and training (social) and on its code of conduct and integrity policy (governance).
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