ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance and is a description of the activities that companies undertake in terms of their impact on environmental protection, care for society and corporate governance.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been replaced with the notion significantly broader, which redefines the company’s value. The times are long gone when the importance of the company was determined only by the profits. Companies, who count on long-term investor relations should demonstrate
interest in sustainable development and financial data reporting. It is an important source of information about the company’s condition or development plans.
Stock exchange and non-public companies with over 250 employees from December 1, 2022 under the CSRD Directive have been obligated to non-financial reporting. In 4 years, the directive would also cover companies that are listed on a regulated market and employing more than 10 employees.
The individual elements of the ESG
What is behind the indicated ESG elements? Below are some practical examples
• Enviromental – of course, it concerns activities in the field of environmental protection. Various types of environmentally friendly actions are taken here, such as tree planting and activities related to reducing the emission of pollutants, energy consumption or responsible sourcing of raw materials. This aspect is also important in the context of creating green offices.
• Social – an important component of ESG is taking care of social relations, both inside the company, such as: concern for employee development, counteracting discrimination, as well as outside of it (clients, investors, subcontractors, local residents). This is any action for communities and their local initiatives, e.g. funding scholarships for youth, activation of seniors, support for creating places conducive to social integration
• Corporate governance – these are issues covering the management system, taking into account business ethics and responsibility. Transparency in the company’s activities is important here – so you should take care of adequate communication with customers, shareholders, employees and other stakeholders, prevent corruption and implement tax transparency.
Examples of ESG solutions when choosing an office
The most important thing in designing an ESG strategy is the analysis of needs and possibilities of the company, as not all assumptions will be possible to be implemented in a given company, as not all of them can give desired results.
Caring for sustainable development in the context of the office, we can, for example:
• choose a location that will allow access by public transport or a two-wheeler. Here, attention should be paid, for example, to the availability of bicycle stands or showers for cyclists
• affect the reduction of the consumption of office resources (limitation of printing of documents, etc.)
• introduce green clauses (e.g. regarding gray water management)
• take action to educate everyone in terms of ESG including all employees and subcontractors
Activities of this type are our joint investment in the future. If we look after it now, we will not have to worry about the future generations.