With arguably the most significant year in the development of sustainability reporting standards behind us, how can businesses efficiently interpret and apply their complex requirements?

Watch the first webinar hosted by the ICAS Sustainability Business Network, as we delve into the practicalities of adopting the various new sustainability reporting frameworks with two organisations who are leading the way on sustainability disclosures.

ICAS Director of Sustainability, Fiona Donnelly CA, led experts from the banking and mining technology sectors in a discussion focused on providing practical tips and sharing learnings. Topics covered included the best ways to secure board involvement and support from colleagues, as well as how to tackle ESG data challenges.

(Duration 1 hour, originally recorded on 1 June 2024.)

Who are the speakers?

(Please note that views and opinions expressed by speakers at ICAS webinars are their own and not necessarily reflective of ICAS’ views.)

• Hosted by Fiona Donnelly CA, Director of Sustainability, ICAS
• Róisín Booth CA, Head of Sustainability Reporting, NatWest Group
• Annette Lister CA, Group ESG Governance and Reporting Manager, The Weir Group PLC

Questions and Answers 

1. In terms of ownership, I'd be interested to gain some insight as to how many of the disclosure inputs are owned by your reporting teams, and which disclosure areas are owned by other functions. Specifically to understand the process of engaging them during reporting season, as well as throughout the year to ensure activities align with reporting expectations.

   Answer from Roisin Booth:
   For NWG the following outputs are owned by my team and follow the same governance route as our financial reporting – Executive Disclosure Committee -> Group Audit Committee -> Group Board.
   - Climate-related Disclosures Report
   - ESG Disclosures Report
   - ESG Frameworks Appendix
   - Sustainability Basis of Reporting 
   - Non-Financial Information Datasheet
   - Green, Social and Sustainability (GSS) Allocation and Impact Report
   - CDP submission
   
   We also feed into relevant sections of the Annual Report & Accounts. 
   The above outputs are generally group-wide and require extensive stakeholder engagement. Accountability for qualitative and quantitative disclosure included within these reports is allocated to senior individuals within the organisation. There are other outputs owned by other teams – but all sustainability disclosure progresses through Disclosure Committees with ESG specialists in attendance who ensure alignment with the Bank’s stance on topics and key outputs included above.
   
   Answer from Annette Lister:
   For Weir, my role is focused on the reporting and I do not have ownership for any metrics – these are all owned by the relevant functions, some within the Sustainability team I am part of so easier to 
   engage with, and the rest from the functions across the business where we have regular one-to-one catch ups during the year and before reporting season to share information. Some of the metrics feature prominently elsewhere in our report, particularly where they are linked to our Strategic Framework and/or remuneration incentives, so are not only reported in the Sustainability section that I have responsibility for. We have processes in place to share metric information and are looking at ways to systemise the consolidation and sharing of ESG metrics to link directly into the systems they come from.
   

   2. How is social responsibility embedded in sustainability reporting within your organisation, are Equality metrics gathered?

   Answer from Roisin Booth:
   Yes – an example being that our ESG Report covers key ESG topics for our stakeholders split by Human capital (which includes Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), Social Capital and Business Modeland Innovation – see page 9 as a guide for content within the report.
   See also tab 5 “colleague” in the non-financial information datasheet available in our ESG reporting hub.
   
   Answer from Annette Lister:
   For Weir, our Sustainability Strategy reflects our social responsibilities through the "Nurture our Culture" element, with more compliance based considerations covered through the "Strengthen our foundations" element. Equality is definitely part of this and we currently track gender diversity, with this metric linked into our remuneration incentives. For more information on this, see here 

Counts as CPD activity

Depending upon your individual role and training and development needs, watching this webinar can count towards your annual Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirement.