Clermont Partners' "Telling Your ESG Story Right" suggests how to "focus the right people on the right topics and the right channels" to tell your ESG story in a way that should resonate with investors and influential ratings providers.
Key takeaways include:
- The right topics
- Don't attempt to respond to every ESG questionnaire. Focus on the hottest topics in your industry and the issues that are top of mind for your investors, and then dedicate your resources to gathering the details on these key issues.
- Understand which issues are most important to ESG rating leaders MSCI and Sustainalytics. Better disclosure or disclosure via other communications channels alone may address a number of key ratings/practices gaps.
- The right people
- Establish an ESG task force/team charged with making pertinent information publicly available in a timely manner. Suggested task force/team members include the heads of marketing, communications, those with inside knowledge of the company’s ESG policies (e.g., supply chain, HR), GC, Corporate Secretary.
- The right channels
- Disclose information on the corporate website IR pages for ease of administration and easy updating, as well as in the annual report CEO letter, investor roadshows, and quarterly earnings calls.
Note: Of the best known ratings firms, companies responding to the Society's May 2019 Sustainability Practices Benchmarking Survey (included in the weekly Society Alert) most commonly engaged with Sustainalytics and MSCI. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!