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February 9, 2022

Considerations on actionable ESG & sustainability data and insights from your value chain

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Considerations on actionable ESG & sustainability data and insights from your value chain

Sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) efforts are increasing around the globe.

According to EY, 90% of investors attach real importance to ESG considerations, with 85%+ more likely to hold an investment based on strong ESG performance.

Further, 75% of the world’s largest companies have ESG initiatives with an increasing view to supply chain participation.

This all means that organizations need accurate, timely and digital data from vendors, suppliers, customers and counterparties in their value chain to manage ESG and sustainability efforts. However, getting data from your supply chain can be a large hurdle.

According to McKinsey, “technology companies have an average of 125 suppliers in their tier-one group and more than 7,000 across all tiers”. Proctor and Gamble the FMCG giant has over 75,000 suppliers.

So even from just a scale perspective, there can be a challenge. Beyond scale, here are some other important factors to consider in your approach.

Prefer to get a jump start? schedule a free chat with us around your ESG and sustainability needs. Our strategic & digital ESG solutions may cover all your needs.

Considerations on actionable ESG & sustainability data and insights from your value chain

What good data and insights looks like

Good insights comes from good data and great structure.

Ensuring you have a digital hub of the data and documents you need, with a flexible ability to generate reports and insights for different periods and different stakeholders is critical.

  • Secure, cloud based for access anywhere and smart reporting
  • Aligned to your KPIs and metrics, mapped to your overall goals and selected standards
  • Repeatable and refreshable; your data should progress with your business
  • Ease of use and access; data should aid not distract from the mission
  • Reports and insights ready-to-go; dashboard readiness

Design considerations on gathering third party data

Detailed; how do you identify all vendors and suppliers? Can existing finance or procurement systems serve as a point of authority?

Defined; how do you ensure that third parties use the same definitions of metrics as your organization?

Documented; what documents do you want or need to gather to substantiate or support data?

Scrubbed; your third parties are likely to have a wide array of systems, standards, reports and formats, how do you ensure a process that allows for secure, repeatable and refreshable reporting?

Selected; which data is status or position reporting such as the presence of certain policies? Which data is performance or period related such as energy use, water use, material volumes et al?

Scaled; do your third parties already provide the required data, are there economies of scale to be had? Are there any sign-offs or requests unique to your organizational needs?

Sourced; how do you embed data gathering in your procurement and contracting processes to ensure that data is populated to include new third parties or material changes?

Think big, start small

Remember all great journeys start with one step.

For a complimentary discussion with us around your ESG and sustainability data and insight needs please schedule a free chat with us.

About the author

Matt Wheatley is the founder of Veritrove: a strategic & digital ESG partner that gets you insights and value from across your supply chain.

Our team finds you cost efficiencies, business value and market differentiation, not just compliance.

We drive insights and unlock value from ESG, sustainability and responsibility initiatives; helping you set, measure, and maximize your ESG actions within your overall mission.

More About the Author

Matthew Wheatley

Founder

Matt has around two decades experience including CRO & VP leadership roles (revenue generation, strategy, change and P&L responsibility) in Fortune 500 and private equity energy services and energy technology businesses.

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