Guest speaker Heather Linton from Lloyds Banking Group shared her insights into the bank’s ESG reporting journey, while Friend’s Clive Bidwell, Nick White and Alex Nichols offered their perspectives on materiality plus ESG reporting in the annual report and standalone ESG reports.
Three big takeaways from the event:
1. The best-practice target is moving fast
We’ve arrived at something of a turning point when it comes to sustainability and ESG communications. The world is changing, which is having a big knock-on effect on regulators, investors and businesses themselves. That means communication is changing quickly, too – and what was acceptable last year may not be this year.
2. Materiality matters
Businesses are bombarded with requests for information from all sorts of stakeholders, and there can be a lot of internal pressure to cover every topic under the sun. That means it’s never been more important to focus your reporting on the things that have a truly critical impact on stakeholders, and on the viability of the business.
3. One size doesn’t fit all
The annual report is subject to certain regulations (for example, the Non-Financial Information Statement and the forthcoming requirement to respond to the TCFD) so the path forward there is relatively clear. However, when it comes to standalone sustainability and ESG reports, there is no one ‘best-practice’ solution. Data, storytelling, investor relations, consumer appeal, broad appeal – there are lots of different options.
If you’d like to see a recording of this seminar, or would like to be invited to future events, please do get in touch