ESG disclosures aligned with the International Sustainability Standards (ISSB) will be a legal requirement for public companies starting in 2024.
The ripple effect of this is impacting private companies on multiple fronts. This could include disclosure requirements from limited partners (LP’s) or institutional investors or from publicly traded retailers. Now is the time to get in front of this before your customers, lenders, compliance officers, insurance and other stakeholder demands for ESG statements overwhelm you.
ESG is not a “woke” or radical concept. It is backed by over 20 years of hard data. Companies that manage their material environmental, social and related governance issues as diligently as they do financial ones are consistently more profitable.
ESG-related risks cost businesses and their stakeholders billions of dollars each year. Therefore investors & stakeholders need verifiable insight into the value of a company’s intangible ESG-related assets. ISSB-aligned ESG statements and scores provide this insight.
Publishing an impact report or statement without verifiable data to back up claims is a liability. Thousands of companies are being sued by the SEC and FTC for greenwashing. To avoid greenwashing, companies need investor grade, data-backed ESG statements. In the near future, such ESG statements will be as commonplace as income statements and balance sheets.
This means that for many Natural Products brands, ESG is an opportunity to stand apart from mainstream or less sustainable competitors. There are brands out there who have not been held to high standards. They are coasting along and staying ahead based on misinformation and unverifiable claims. That may not last.
ESG benchmarking will give greater weight to companies sourcing sustainable, regenerative and organic ingredients, building fair labor supply chains, raising livestock more humanely, developing stronger employee retention and compensation models and addressing gender pay gaps.
ESG is not an endpoint or goalpost, but will enable a more level playing field. It is not surprising that polluting industries and special interests with less than savory supply chain and governance issues oppose the transparency of ESG.
Retailers, consumers, investors and other stakeholders are increasingly aligning with brands they trust, and verifiable ESG claims provide this.
Impakt IQ is the leading investor grade enterprise ESG tool that provides companies with the integrated framework, benchmark and statements that align with International Sustainability Standards (ISSB).
Please contact us to learn more about the Impakt IQ ESG Benchmark Assessment and investor grade ESG Roadmap, your first step toward ensuring you are on the right ESG path. Elisa Turner, CEO, Impakt IQ, elisa@impaktiq.com or Errol Schweizer, Food and Consumer Products adviser to Impakt IQ, errolschweizer@gmail.com.
(847) 277-9500