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ESG research and insights

Make an impact with next-level knowledge and research

ESG is a young field and rapidly evolving. It has evolved from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and puts social value creation by organizations at its core. Where CSR was something that organizations did ‘on top of’, ESG now plays a key role in primary business activities and the financial world. What are the implications of this? What do ESG government policies mean for individual organizations? And vice versa, what do organizational choices say about the effectiveness of policy?

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At Empact, we believe it is important to contribute to the development of our beautiful new field. That is why we regularly share our vision and insights on our website and why clients can come to us to have us conduct thorough ESG research and acquire knowledge in the form of training, education and expert articles

ESG research

For our clients, we conduct various types of research on environmental, social and governance topics. Among others, you can contact us for the following five types of research:

In a market survey (market research), we look at ESG developments within a sector. We identify the leaders and position your organization. We look ahead and work with scenarios. We come up with concrete recommendations. Many of these recommendations are aimed at taking advantage of opportunities. All of these studies are completely confidential.

Who are our stakeholders? How important are they to our organization? What do they think? How do we maintain contact? And what will the future bring? These questions are crucial for an organization that wants to be in touch with its stakeholders. We help to answer these questions through stakeholder research. For large international chains we work with chain partners such as &Wider and Bureau Hofkes, who are able to approach large groups of people. From stakeholder mapping, engagement to continuous stakeholder strategy: Empact will find it out for you.

Sometimes organizations are caught off guard by new laws and regulations. And sometimes organizations actually want to look ahead and better understand what is coming their way. For example, Empact sat down with MEP Lara Wolters as early as 2023 to discuss the CSDDD. An example of an Empact impact research is ‘the state of ESG in 2022′, the Empact survey among 100 medium-sized and large companies on the level of implementation of ESG. We can also provide impact research for your organization.

Especially with government organizations or multi-stakeholder collaborations, it is also important to look back. Did a particular measure actually have the effect that was envisioned beforehand? What went well? And what could be improved? An evaluation study can be academic, but it can also be practical. This depends on the purpose of the research. An example of an Empact evaluation study is the IMVO Policy Evaluation study we conducted for the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Another example is the evaluation of the transition to a circular airport, conducted by Empact’s Anne Rademaker.

Actually a kind of umbrella term for many different types of research, all about understanding things in detail. For example, for a client we mapped the relevant ESG developments for the existing business model. We identified risks and opportunities. And examined the choices and directions for the organization. In doing so, we provided a better picture of the existing and possible future organization.

The research methods Empact uses depend on the situation. Our starting point is always the already known facts and figures. Sometimes this is already sufficient to gain insight, but other times additional quantitative and/or qualitative research is needed.

For example, in a stakeholder survey, the use of a survey will be an adequate means to broadly understand what a stakeholder cares about. But sometimes stakeholder dialogues are needed for depth and better understanding. When it comes to desk research, case studies or explanatory research, our methods are scientifically validated. Accordingly, our founder Martin de Jong is affiliated with the University of Amsterdam.

ESG insights: sharing knowledge

For us, sharing our knowledge on ESG is second nature. We think it’s important that as many people as possible understand what ESG is, what you can do with it and how to put it into practice. But unfortunately, many people have an unclear view of ESG. It starts with the term: ESG. What is it? What is meant by it? Why don’t we use the terms impact, sustainability, sustainability, CSR, CSR, RBC, CSV or broad welfare? And how do you get out of the abstraction and work concretely toward a truly impactful organization?

By teaching and by sharing our knowledge, we contribute to a better understanding of our field. We do this in the following ways, among others:

Since the idea arose for an ESG Academy at the university level, Empact has been involved. A number of Empact consultants teach at the University of Amsterdam, and Empact’s Martin de Jong is coordinator of the course: ESG Advanced Environment.

In addition, Empact provides various master classes, both commissioned by the UvA and for clients such as the Audit Service Rijk (ADR) of the Ministry of Finance and the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO). Many trainings are in-house and have the character of a workshop: working interactively on the basis of content and focusing on a joint output. Empact often has the role of expert, but also as facilitator.

Empact regularly publishes articles on the website Duurzaam-ondernemen.nl. This is how we share our insights and visions with a wider audience. And of course, the Empact website is an important source for further knowledge. Empact also has a partnership with the publisher Sdu. For Sdu, Empact writes handouts that can be used by professionals to further implement ESG in their organizations. Many ESG consulting firms also use our guides and associated tools and templates. Something we are proud of. For more information about the Sdu platform, also check out here.

A special form of knowledge sharing – or rather knowledge creation – is Empact’s collaboration with the NEN Institute from Delft. This non-profit organization manages the ISO standards for the Netherlands and develops the international ISO standards together with other countries. For Empact, ISO is synonymous with quality assurance, something we consider very important. Empact is involved in:

  • Environmental committee ISO14001
  • Circular economy committee ISO 59004

Our role is that of committee member and we are involved in the drafting of the ISO standards. In this we bring our expertise and try to take the level of ESG another step further.

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