Developing a Sustainability Reporting Strategy for a Renewable Energy Company

The client, a renewable fuel and utility provider, wishes to assess the current state of its sustainability programs and communications and streamline the development of a Sustainability Reporting Framework and content delivery to highlight environment, social, and governance (ESG) management approaches and performance that are relevant to the client’s activities across US and Canada. Focused tasks include the following areas: 

Review of Baseline Business Requirements and Strategy  

• Identify and validate major themes and outline the framework that explains the relationship between the core business lines and sustainability with consultation from the client’s sustainability department.  
• Develop a reporting framework to represent regional Goals, Key Performance Indicators and metrics and define the organizational and corporate governance model for specific tasks and responsibilities for which the Company’s main governance bodies are responsible, guaranteeing that sustainability issues are appropriately taken into consideration across facilities.  
• Identify and document the main ESG factors by means of structured processes that involve sustainability context analysis, identification of priorities for the Company and its stakeholders, sustainability planning, execution of specific actions to support sustainability objectives, reporting and management of ESG ratings and sustainability indices, as well as the management of the main national and international sustainability networks.  
• Identify and validate key internal and external audiences for the report in consultation with Sustainability and Communications departments.   

Materiality Assessment Process Review and Optimization  

• Review and assess the client’s regional process for Materiality Analysis  
• Validate regional priority issues through engagement with no more than ten business leaders (internal) and no more than five external stakeholder groups to assure complete sustainability disclosure that incorporates key principles of materiality.  
• Define and provide recommendations regarding how global processes can best align with regional priorities and needs to find synergies for greater insights driven from materiality assessment.   

ESG Data Management Review   

• Identify and review all existing ESG targets across the region, including KPIs tracked by the client’s digital platforms.   
• Assess and validate ESG data map in consultation with the Sustainability Department.  Up to five internal interviews may be required across various departments and data owners to support ESG data map.    
• Develop and make recommendations regarding a voluntary reporting strategy with respect to standards and frameworks, including but not limited to: GRI, WEF, SASB/Value Reporting Foundation and TCFD.  
• Recommend ESG content management tools or databases to support reporting.  

Creating Shared Value (CSV) and Sustainability Projects   

• Review existing stakeholder mapping and relevance scores and make recommendations regarding (i) recommended communication channels, and (ii) effective messaging strategies for addressing the priority issue(s) for each stakeholder group.   
• Propose messaging themes for CSV in the context of generating social impact and Just Transition  
• Review (i) existing sustainability project case studies, stories and messaging, and (ii) identify and propose new or alternative case studies, stories and messaging approaches.    

Human Rights   

• Review prior work conducted on Human Rights Gap Analysis and Improvement Plans for the client and make recommendations for inclusion and related cross-reference to good practices and standards in international Human Rights reporting.   

Antea Group facilitates strategic planning for the development and completion of a reporting framework to guide the client along their sustainability disclosure journey. We assist the client in developing their sustainability reporting strategy through a systematic process inclusive of five tasks including a Materiality Optimization exercise, a Current State Assessment and Aspiration, a Human Rights Gap Analysis, ESG Data Mapping, and developing a Sustainability Reporting Framework. 

As of August 2022, we have completed the materiality optimization, benchmarking analysis, and human rights gap analysis and are on track to complete the project in November 2022. The client has found great value in our work so far and has already begun to talk about how they want to tweak these steps and refine the process for continued growth in the upcoming year.