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ESG consultancy

Support with all your ESG questions

Questions of Environment (S), Social (S) and Govenance (G) are playing an increasing role within organizations. On the one hand due to new legislation such as the CSRD and the CSDD, on the other hand due to increased awareness among customers, employees and other stakeholders.

Empact helps large and mid-sized organizations ask the right questions and find answers. You can also come to us with ESG compliance questions. Our experienced consultants serve as your guide: we help you to really move forward and make a real impact.

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Internal and external ESG questions

When we talk about ESG questions, we distinguish between internal and external questions. Internal questions can be addressed by the organization itself, but external questions require involvement of business partners and stakeholders. Often these questions are an extension of each other. After all, your scope 3 is partly the scope 1 and 2 of a supplier.

For questions that can be answered within the organization, the challenge often lies in finding the right data and interpreting that data. But interpreting questions from stakeholders and translating those questions into action can also be a challenge.

When it comes to questions to be answered outside the organization, the trick is to ask the right questions and involve the right upstream and downstream supply chain partners and other business relationships. Thorough knowledge of laws and regulations is essential here, because they often determine how far an organization must go in providing data.

Common questions

Environment, or ecological questions, are related to the environment and climate. Questions our consultants regularly provide support for include:

  • How is CO2 ambition defined and realized?
  • What are our scope 3 emissions and how can we improve them?
  • What is the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of our products?
  • How is environmental impact measured? And how can we improve it?
  • How does climate change affect our water needs?
  • How will we reduce pollution throughout our supply chain?
  • In what ways can circular economy principles be implemented in the organization.
  • How can recycling and reuse of materials be encouraged?
  • And how does this fit within our business model?
  • How does changing biodiversity affect our organization?

Social questions are all about people. Think about issues such as working conditions, human rights, inclusiveness and privacy. Some questions we can help you with are:

  • In what way do we deal with working conditions within the organization? And is this sufficient?
  • How are diversity and inclusion secured?
  • How can civic engagement and local community support be encouraged?
  • How can we ensure that working conditions throughout the supply chain are fair and humane?
  • What can we do and what should we do to develop an engaged and socially motivated team?

When we talk about governance within ESG, we are talking about good governance. Good governance is focused on long-term value creation. Common questions in this area include:

  • How do we report in accordance with the CSRD?
  • How do we collect, validate and safeguard our ESG Data?
  • What is the policy around bribery and corruption?
  • How is good governance secured from the organization and chain partners?
  • How can lobbying be organized in the context of sustainable goals?
  • In what ways can accountability to stakeholders, including shareholders, employees and the community be achieved?
  • In what ways do we realize socially responsible purchasing?

Being compliant in terms of ESG can be interpreted in two ways: in a narrow sense and in a broad sense. In the narrow sense, it revolves around mere compliance with legal requirements, and thus becomes a check-off exercise. In a broader sense – and in our view much more interesting – guidelines and laws are used as a springboard for truly ethical and sustainable business. After all, who takes companies seriously that are required to report on child labor in their supply chain, but do nothing about it?

Empact can help you determine the compliance frameworks relevant to your organization and, if desired, assist you in preparing reports and developing and implementing a successful ESG strategy. That way we can really help you move forward.

ESG standards

Specifically, when it comes to ESG compliance, we are talking about becoming compliant with the following three forms of ESG standards:

  • European and national ESG laws. Consider the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD);
  • Voluntary (reporting) frameworks. An increasing number of past voluntary frameworks have been implemented in binding legislation. For example, the OECD guidelines have become part of the CSDD and the CSRD. However, these laws do not (yet) apply to all organizations. Empact can help you implement voluntary ESG frameworks in business operations. These include the OECD guidelines, UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), UN Global Compact, GRI and SASB.
  • ESG ratings and scoring systems. In addition to compliance with international standards for ESG, it is logical that companies want to demonstrate to stakeholders such as customers and investors how well they are performing on ESG. Empact can help determine the most appropriate system and the (data) questions that arise from that to achieve compliance. Of course with the intention to make real impact, we do not do greenwashing. Standards to consider include Sustainalytics, Eco vadis, CO2 performance ladder, MSCI, S&P Global scores, EPD (Environmental Product Declaration), EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) and B-Corp.

Considerations

Each of these different standards has its own advantages and disadvantages. It depends on the context which ESG legislation, guidelines or standards make sense for your organization. Some of the things we include in that consideration are:

  • Do you fall within the scope of (European) legislation because of the number of employees or the size of the turnover?
  • Does your organization supply companies that fall within the scope of European legislation, requiring you to provide certain information?
  • Are you operating in a high-risk sector or country?
  • What is your organization’s maturity on ESG?
  • What is your organization’s ESG ambition level?

Our ESG experts

Our team consists of passionate ESG professionals with one shared mission: to make real impact. With diverse expertise and a passion for sustainability, we make complex issues understandable. What makes us unique? We look beyond compliance and help organizations turn ESG ambitions into tangible results for people and planet.

Our ESG consultants

Getting started together

Do you recognize these ESG questions in your organization? Or are you running into another ESG issue that you urgently need help with? Then don’t hesitate to contact us. Whether it’s a big question or a very small one, we will be happy to help you.

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