Sustainability Assessment and Reporting

Measuring Impact

The first step on a company’s sustainability journey is to measure your current performance by completing a Sustainability Assessment (SA). These are meant to guide companies that are not sure which inputs to measure regarding social and environmental impact. The SA gives your company a baseline score, after which members can set goals, deadlines and build out action plans.

How to Measure:

The Emerger Strategies Basic Sustainability Assessment Tool (BSAT) was developed by sustainability pioneer Bob Willard / Sustainability Advantage, and is a generic SA tool that can be used by any size company, in any sector, or any country. It uses less than 20 multiple-choice questions to score the organization’s sustainability performance. It also suggests over two dozen actions that improve performance on GHG emissions reduction and cost savings opportunities, the urgent issues that most stakeholders prioritize. Emerger Strategies’ clients who have completed the BSAT initially score 37% on average with the goal being to reach 100%. To become a certified B-Corp, companies must achieve a score of 80% or more.

>> Example of completed Sustainability Assessment <<

Companies who want to quickly see if they meet minimum sustainability requirements are encouraged to complete the Emerger Strategies BSAT. Companies who have already begun their sustainability journey are encouraged to consider one of the following SA’s:

B Corp B Impact Assessment (BIA):

The B Impact Assessment is a digital tool that can help measure, manage, and improve positive impact performance for environment, communities, customers, suppliers, employees, and shareholders; receiving a minimum verified score of 80 points on the assessment is also the first step towards B Corp Certification.

View Assessment >>

Future Fit Business Model:

Systems science tells us how our economy must be transformed if we are to meet everyone’s needs and live in harmony with nature. We have translated that science into principles, goals, indicators, and guides to help any business play its part in getting us there.

View Model >>

Reporting Impact

Following the completion of your SA and goal setting you will want to report your findings to shareholders, staff, the public, and if necessary, regulators. Your company’s Sustainability Report describes your company’s success against the goals, deadlines and action plan decided following your initial assessment. Reporting should occur at least once a year.

A sustainability report typically includes the following:

  • Organizational Profile:
    • Information about the organization’s structure, size, industry, locations, and products/services.
    • Details about the organization’s mission, vision, and values related to sustainability.
  • Introduction and Overview:
    • Company mission, vision, values, operations, products and how sustainability is structured in the organization.
    • A brief introduction to the organization’s sustainability goals and commitments.
    • An overview of the reporting period and the scope of the report.
  • Materiality Assessment (Risks & Opportunities):
    • Identification of key sustainability issues that are most significant to the organization and its stakeholders.
    • Explanation of how these issues were identified and prioritized. Companies can use the sustainability SWOT Tool to help identify sustainability risks and opportunities.
  • Environmental Performance:
    • Data on energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, waste generation, and other relevant environmental impacts.
    • Progress towards environmental targets and goals.
    • Efforts to reduce environmental impact, such as energy efficiency measures or waste reduction initiatives.
  • Social Performance:
    • Information on labor practices, including employee diversity, wages, benefits, and training opportunities.
    • Health and safety performance, including any incidents or near-misses and actions taken to improve safety.
    • Community engagement activities and contributions, such as charitable donations or volunteering.
  • Economic Performance:
    • Financial performance related to sustainability initiatives.
    • Investments in sustainable technologies or practices.
    • Economic contributions to local communities and supply chain partners. It should be noted that disclosing financial information is optional for privately held companies, but most elect to share how much they donated to nonprofits.
  • Supply Chain Management:
    • Assessment of suppliers’ sustainability performance.
    • Efforts to promote ethical sourcing, fair labor practices, and supply chain transparency.
  • Stakeholder Engagement:
    • Description of how the organization engages with stakeholders on sustainability issues.
    • Feedback received from stakeholders and actions taken in response.
  • Governance and Ethics:
    • Overview of the organization’s governance structure and processes related to sustainability.
    • Policies and procedures in place to ensure ethical behavior and compliance with regulations.
  • Future Goals and Targets:
    • Long-term sustainability goals and targets.
    • Strategies for achieving these goals and addressing emerging sustainability challenges.
  • Assurance and Verification:
    • Information about any independent assurance or verification processes used to validate the data and information in the report.
  • Appendices and Supplementary Information:
    • Additional data, charts, and case studies to provide further context and detail.

Here’s a link to Yamaha’s 2023 Sustainability Report.

There are multiple sustainability reporting frameworks that companies use, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), the last being the most commonly used by U.S. companies.