Making meaningful change: The five Ts of ESG
April 2023

ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) is a hot topic across all industries, with many companies pivoting their operations to become more sustainable and improve their reporting. By contrast others have been less authentic in their approach and for some businesses, increased scrutiny and regulation means they have been caught out greenwashing.
What has become clear is that without substance, ESG can be a recipe for corporate inertia or, worse, a governance scandal. However, with some simple steps, ESG can be a meaningful tool to effect change for your business.
To coincide with Earth Day 2023, which takes place Saturday 22 April, we teamed up with Eloise Sochanik, Divisional Sustainability Manager at RSK Group, and Bridgehouse has pulled together the 5Ts of ESG: Thoughtful, Tangible, Transparent, Targeted and Tactical.
1. Thoughtful
By taking time to create a well thought out and properly managed ESG strategy, you can ensure that the actions taken are meaningful, relevant, and impactful. Think about what your business stands for and the impact it has on society and the environment. Looking at the impact of your business, your supply chain, what it is your business does and aligning your actions accordingly, means that your ESG activity is relevant to your wider goals. Gaining input from employees, stakeholders and the local community can help point a business in the right direction as to how it can create meaningful action.
2. Tangible
Getting stuck into ESG without proper and robust reporting in place is setting yourself up for failure. In order to create a meaningful framework and strategy you must understand the impact of the business and have data collection/tracking processes in place to calculate impact and measure progress. Reporting on ESG is a journey, everyone must start somewhere and there is no finish line. While it may feel daunting to put your impact and current statistics out there, it shows a commitment to making positive change and allows for a well-managed and successful plan. As you make positive changes and have the data to back it up you can use it to create solid goals, show your success and see where improvement is needed.
3. Transparent
Transparency is key if you’re going to avoid allegations of greenwashing and the like. Make your data clear, available and digestible so that your employees and stakeholders can see what action is being taken and what impact you are having on the wider world. When you talk about your actions in regard to ESG be open and honest about what you are doing, where your strengths and weaknesses lie and what your goals are for improvement. Failure to be transparent or providing misleading information can lead to distrust in the business as well as disengagement from employees and stakeholders who may see actions as hollow if not approached honestly.
4. Targeted (aligned to employees and stakeholders)
Once you have created a strategy that is aligned with your business goals, is backed by robust data and that you can communicate about openly, you can build on this by ensuring there are opportunities for key stakeholders, particularly employees to feedback on your strategy and approach. Good examples of ESG activity can lead to positive internal engagement, while failure to resonate with employees may see a loss of talent. According to Forbes, Randstad’s 2022 Workmonitor research found that 41% of workers surveyed worldwide said they wouldn’t accept a job with a company unwilling to make efforts to improve their diversity and equity record and about half of those surveyed said they would refuse to join organisations whose stand on environmental issues doesn’t align with their own.
Successful ESG doesn’t only engage team members, it also engages stakeholders and investors creating a positive reputation for your business. According to the International Bar Association “Investor engagement with environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors has risen over the last two years. The business reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of these three areas to the long-term survival of businesses”.
5. Tactical (meaningful action, not hollow)
Based on sustainability trends, investor engagement and despite some backlash against ESG reporting demands on businesses in this space are likely to increase in the coming years. As a business it’s important to take ESG seriously, but like the saying goes, if you’re not going to do it properly, don’t do it at all. Put effort, thought and planning into your ESG strategy. Pizza Fridays are all well and good but they don’t equate to the impact of real, meaningful ESG. Throwing the term around, not having the data to back up your claims, talking about ESG but not acting on it and failing to monitor or follow through on your impact goals are all ways you can end up on the wrong side of the conversation.
We spoke to ESG and Sustainability expert Eloise Sochanik, Divisional Sustainability Manager at RSK Group, to hear more on her thoughts about ESG and how to handle it correctly:
Bridgehouse: How important is collaboration to achieving ESG goals?
ES: Collaboration is essential – the data points that will help you demonstrate delivery against your ESG targets will be held in various departments across the business. Your system and structure must ensure that those departments and contacts are able to build relationships and work together to compile data in a meaningful and timely way.
This collaboration will be key to your reporting. It is also important when you are responding to bids and tenders, or external ratings and accreditations where your ESG or sustainability credentials are required and will be interrogated.
ESG metrics cover everything from your environmental performance to your gender pay reporting to your treatment of GDPR so it helps to have the up to date information from those who are responsible for these areas. This collaboration means that systems and processes are designed with each department in mind and ensures that the information you have is accurate. Collaboration could also involve people or teams outside of your own organisation – knowing when to partner with businesses or charities which have the expertise you need is key to delivering a meaningful programme.
Bridgehouse: What would be your top tip for managing ESG?
ES: If you are managing ESG projects, reporting and goals, you will often be asking people to do something differently and you need to modify your approach depending on what that request is. If you are trying to improve your ESG performance by changing something or implementing something new, you need to be clear on why it is important and what benefits it will bring.
For example, if your materiality analysis shows that it would be beneficial to amend your business travel policy to promote more sustainable transport, do your research and prepare easy to understand information for your audiences that explains the benefits including carbon savings, retention of talent, health and wellbeing or alignment with client values.
If you are moving to a renewable energy tariff, lay out the cost savings or any commercial benefits linked to environmental targets from your investors. Ensuring that any new activity is set out as a win-win-win and has wider linked benefits makes all the difference to its adoption. And if those additional benefits aren’t there, be clear on when to walk away from an idea or initiative.
Bridgehouse: Why is meaningful ESG so important?
ES: ESG reporting is a positive step in getting an aligned view on how businesses are performing in relation to sustainability. There is still a long way to go in getting a better, clearer information and data from businesses, particularly in relation to key topics such as net zero targets and biodiversity – but the transparency and link to finance created by ESG frameworks is a key step in the corporate sustainability journey.
We are at a crucial environmental tipping point – our world needs transformational change – and events like Earth Day help us refocus our commitment. Meaningful ESG holds businesses accountable for their actions and helps them to understand how they can make a tangible difference.
We’d like to thank Eloise for collaborating with us on this Earth Day article. To find out more about Earth Day and how you can support this important awareness event, head over to their website by clicking here.

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