Introduction

For decades, more profit margins have been generated by businesses for their stakeholders without a care in the world for sustainability. But since ESG reporting has been incorporated into the fold, the people and environment around them are now cared for by companies. This makes a company’s brand more responsible, transparent, and accountable. Even from the point of view of the investor, a good ESG strategy displays a longer-term resilience and thus overall lower risk in doing business.

However, designing ESG strategies and reporting correctly is a process that requires domain expertise. To ensure smooth ESG reporting, businesses generally rely on the domain expertise of ESG consultants, as a well-structured report generally results in increased investor confidence. General ESG awareness within organizations is lacking, especially in India. ESG reporting in India has become increasingly complex due to the data-related choke points within the process. The hiring of trained ESG professionals is not only a facilitator in the process but also significantly increases the impact of reporting on the audience. This blog delves into the benefits of hiring ESG consultants in India for ESG reporting needs.

Understanding ESG Reporting in India

Although efforts are made to standardize ESG reporting, there are some inherent differences in the different reporting frameworks that various entities use across India and the world. Some of the most widely used frameworks are:
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
• Sustainability Accounting Standard Board (SASB)
• Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR)
• Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
• Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
Out of these, the BRSR is mandatory to be published by the top 1000 companies by market capitalisation in India. In many ways, the BRSR has emerged as India’s ESG reporting framework since it got introduced by the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in 2021. BRSR superseded the previous Business Responsibility Report (BRR) by making the scope of disclosures more wide-ranging and putting more structure to the reporting process. With the launch of BRSR, SEBI has also given businesses a single unified and standardized framework for ESG reporting.

Trends in ESG Investing

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Investments in the sustainability domain have picked up rapidly in India: India’s ESG investments have gone from $330 million in 2019 to $1.3 billion in 2023 – and the growth trend is going faster over the next few years. This, in turn, has put ESG-related activities and disclosures in sharper focus, mainly among companies trying to access investors’ pools of capital. According to DBS and Bloomberg Media Studios report, 92% of Indian SMEs are paying attention towards the ESG implementation in business.

ESG reporting, can work as brand value enhancement in the eye of investors and people. With the growing popularity, requirement of ESG domain experts’ is being witnessed in India also.

Challenges Faced by Companies in ESG Reporting

Unlike other types of reporting, ESG reporting has become popular in the past decade or so. The complexities involved in ESG reporting are still being learned by governments and organizations, making it challenging to have internal resources proficient in facilitating the end-to-end process. As companies seek to establish their ESG reporting pipelines, they are faced with a variety of different obstacles which hinder the process of summarizing.

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Here are some of the issues which are faced by companies when reporting ESG metrics:

  1. Insufficient and inexperienced internal resources
  2.  Processes across supplier and customer value chains are non-standardized
  3. KPI reporting data is not reliable and accurate
  4. Reports are completed in line with timetables
  5. Fulfillment of compliance needs is tracked
  6. ESG reporting frameworks are updated
  7. The embedding of ESG with business processes is ensured

How ESG Consultants Address Reporting Challenges

ESG consultants provide end-to-end services tailored to specific business needs of an organization and the industries it operates in. Hiring an ESG consultant in India can nurture many benefits like:

Developing a strategy for ESG reporting

ESG consultants devise a holistic approach for the entire reporting process including benchmarking, data collection and reporting, communication strategies and regulatory insight. They help organizations select a framework for reporting and develop a detailed plan on how to go about the entire process.

Internal Capacity building

ESG consultants in India can assist organizations in training and developing an internal workforce that is knowledgeable enough to undertake the reporting process. This will involve effective communication strategies to share best practices and awareness relating to ESG issues.

Expert Knowledge and Industry Insights

ESG consultants can view information from a macro as well as micro perspective. They know about worldwide trends as well as local patterns. Domestic and international are important considerations where cross-industry and company best practices can exist.

InCorp’s End-to-End ESG Reporting Approach

ESG consultants in India deliver their services on a case-by-case basis with business need. InCorp Global is the largest ESG reporting consultancy company offering end-to-end solutions across the ESG landscape. Our highly trained, experienced, and dedicated professional staff helps business at each and every stage of reporting.

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Some of the key ESG reporting services offered by InCorp Global are:

1. Materiality Assessment

We provide clients with a comprehensive stakeholder engagement and materiality assessment in line with the latest GRI and EU principles. This enables our clients to identify risks and opportunities linked to their operations.

2. Peer Benchmarking

The research analysis conducted by our team helps analyze ESG performance by setting it up against peer and competitor companies. In other words, our clients take this as a unique opportunity for having exceptional grounding in the ESG space.

3. ESG Reporting Framework Selection

After conducting the stakeholder engagement process, we assist companies in selecting a particular ESG reporting and rating framework. The selection of this framework is done with all the issues faced by stakeholders and their specific circumstances in mind.

4. Gap Assessment

Comprehensive reviews are carried out by our ESG team experts to establish the deficiencies of policies, procedures, and data in regard to the report. This important step is taken because it enhances the reliability of the final report and promotes better ESG reporting in the future.

5. Data and Validation

Data collection and validation through customized templates and data training modules are also carried out by our team.

6. Content and Design

Print-ready reports that efficiently communicate our client’s ESG performance are delivered by our ESG team, consisting of content writers and designers along with domain experts.

Specific Benefits of Hiring an ESG Consultant in India

The entire process is simplified by hiring consultants in India for ESG reporting. The following key benefits are included in hiring an ESG professional:

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1. ESG Strategy and Reporting

The major responsibility of ESG consultants in India formulate strategies for the ESG reporting process. Since ESG consultants have thorough knowledge about all the developments relating to various reporting frameworks, they are able to formulate a strategy that is well adapted to each organization’s brand and vision.

2. Regulatory Requirements

Since ESG reporting is relatively evolving form of reporting, it tends to be deve

lopment in disclosing matters. Second, there is more than one ESG reportings standard and frameworks developed by various bodies across the world. It does not make any business well-versed with all that regulatory development and changes associated with relevant data collecting and reporting matters. Therefore, ESG consultants assist your business in keeping abreast of national and international reporting requirements.

3. Stakeholder Trust

Stakeholder engagement is carried out by ESG consultants in India as it gives an opportunity for building trust and credibility in the reporting process. This also involves developing a coherent communication model through which an entity can identify the needs and requirements of all the stakeholders in its value chain.

4. Brand Reputation

With effective ESG policies and measures consumers will enhance their brand to a high extent. This study further identified that a highly rated brand has been perceived by more consumers and investors. Ergo, ESG consultants in India is here to assure that your brand stays desirable by a wider crowd of customers.

5. Identification of Opportunities

Materiality assessment is one of the core responsibilities in an ESG report. ESG consultants conduct quite deep materiality assessments that will bring forth opportunities your business might use. They help in stabilizing and making your organization sustainable in the long run.

6. Increased Investments

Sustainability measures attract more investments from global investors. Higher returns are claimed to be led by ESG investing by 60% of global investors. With increased emphasis on sustainable investing, it is natural for responsible businesses to attract more capital. Enterprises can be assisted by ESG consultants to align their strategies with major ESG metrics that investors are looking for.

7. Employee Satisfaction

ESG consultants can assist businesses in creating a work culture that prioritizes the need to address employee issues and concerns. This will result in the increase of employee morale and will assist with the stable functioning of a business.

8. Rating Improvement

The ESG ratings of a business can be improved by adding and verifying relevant information in the ESG reports with the help of ESG Consultants. The BRSR Assurance provision in India is set out for the sole purpose of validating the data presented in an ESG report by an external independent party. The authenticity of an ESG report is increased in the eyes of ESG rating agencies by such validation procedures.

Conclusion

ESG consultants can be assisted in growing a business by being encouraged to adopt responsible practices and avoid controversies through effective reporting. A huge surge in demand for ESG-related investments in India across all industries has been observed. This allows for unparalleled expertise in ESG-related matters to be delivered by consultants in India, which can be seen as the next big thing in the global corporate landscape.

Why Choose InCorp Global?

150+ corporates across 10+ countries are catered to by InCorp Global for their Sustainability and ESG reporting needs. Expertise in diverse reporting and rating frameworks such as GRI, TCFD, IFRS, EcoVadis, MSCI, S&P, EU CSRD, and GRESB, among others, is possessed by us. A seamless ESG reporting process can be guaranteed by our team of highly trained professionals. A sustainable future for all is believed in by InCorp Global. ESG reportings services can be learned about by contacting us at info@incorpadvisory.in or by reaching out to us at (+91) 7738066622.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)