ESG: Having the right data is essential
Companies continuously produce data: from purchasing to production to sales, accounting, risk analyses, and customer care, companies collect and store information, thereby producing data on internal and external processes. However, for sustainability reporting and with regard to ESG evaluation criteria and classification aspects, consolidating different kinds of data of varying quality from diverse sources throughout the company is an immense challenge for many businesses.
Here you will find an overview of our services and solutions related to all aspects of ESG data management.
Finding solutions to this challenge is becoming ever more urgent. National and international regulations, such as the German Supply Chain Act (officially: Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains), the EU Taxonomy, and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, increasingly require companies to report on the non-financial aspects of their business activities. Banks also need to comply with guidelines (e.g., BCBS530) for effective management and supervision of climate-related financial risks. Rarely, however, it is possible to directly link differing data and data fields to the specific ESG criteria (environmental, social, governance) and evaluate them. Conservative estimates predict that there will be over 1000 data fields to be examined by 2025. To achieve this, existing systems must be adapted and expanded to be adequate ESG-compatible data management systems.
These data management systems and tools can be used help to collect, validate, and process all the essential information for ESG reporting, ESG assessment criteria, and ESG classification topics with the greatest possible degree of efficiency from existing corporate data. This is important so that companies can meet not only the regulatory requirements but also the information needs of internal and external stakeholders, as well as customers and the general public.
Take a holistic view of ESG data management
Any additional solutions required to collect all the important ESG data can be developed in-house or purchased externally and then integrated with the internal ESG data management. Companies are faced with a comprehensive evaluation and selection process in order to find the right solutions for their needs. The topic has also become more complex, thanks to the many laws and demands regarding data security and data protection, and both inevitably affect the IT landscape and the ability to process data.
In the long term, companies should assume that identifying, classifying, and preparing ESG data will become integral elements of their corporate strategy.
The issue of ESG data management must therefore be considered from a holistic perspective. Those responsible from many different business areas such as IT, compliance, or internal audit must work together to make non-financial information tangible.
How Mazars can assist you
Our experts will be happy to help you – from analysing the initial situation to defining requirements to selecting tools, and then implementing and further developing the ESG-driven data management processes.
Contacts
Stefan Weddemar Senior Manager Frankfurt on the Main
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