Financial Institutions, Funds, Private Equity and other investors into international companies and projects are facing increasing pressure to demonstrate that their investments are environmentally, socially and ethically sustainable and that reputational risks are controlled. The ENSURE Team have the experience to assess and manage the ESG risks and add real value to in country performance.
There is an ever increasing range of issues that now need to considered over and above the standard Fiduciary Duties for both Directors and Investors, with concerns including:
- Environmental regulatory compliance;
- Social and Cultural issues;
- Sustainability;
- Carbon and climate change;
- Climate change resilience;
- Supply Chain and Supplier Codes of Conduct;
- Sustainable Sourcing, including conflict minerals;
- Modern Slavery issues;
- Ethics;
- Anti Bribery and Corruption (ABC);
- Reputational risk if you get it wrong.
CSR and ESG Reporting of all of the above is difficult when there are a number of potentially conflicting and certainly overlapping International and National standards under development, plus a bewildering range of NGO's each with their own topic of interest and area of influence.
Bodies such as the World Bank, EBRD, Africa Development Bank and IFC now have well document performance standards and expectations, whilst many of the International Export credit Agencies (ECA's) work to the same standards. At a higher level we have the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's), whilst issues such as Climate Change and Carbon management go beyond these standards, with new reporting frameworks under development through bodies such as GRI's G4 Sustainability Reporting and the current review by the Task Force for Climate related Financial Disclosure (TCFD). Here in the UK we are seeing the Chancellor push for the mandatory adoption of TCFD compliant reporting and this is already reflected by the approach of many major investors.
We are here to listen and whatever your concerns and issues, we believe that we can help you take the next step in the sustainable business process.
Ensure can help you navigate through this evolving maze to identify those standards and criteria that are most relevant, then to develop and implement appropriate CSR and ESG policies to deliver a truly sustainable business both in the UK and Internationally. As we operate with one foot in London and one internationally, we are well placed to provide the targeted support you actually need:
- Environmental Management System (EMS) policy development and implementation;
- ESG bench-marking, policy development and implementation;
- Environmental and Social Due Diligence for M&A - including detailed contingency costing;
- Single site to multi company portfolio risk assessments;
- Bespoke climate, carbon, energy and water audits;
- Regulatory compliance assessment;
- Effective in country support to develop and deliver real value added changes in ESG performance against agreed metrics;
- ESG and CSR reporting to criteria including TCFD.
We also provide comprehensive workshops and training, whether on the new duties for the Boardroom in the UK, or the relevance of ESG to the business and performance in country. It is this end to end support that enables Ensure to add real and sustainable value to your business and investments.