WHAT USE IS A SAWMILL WITHOUT A FOREST?
Sustainability is the Ability to Sustain

There are five Ps of Sustainability Development Goals
People | Planet | Prosperity | Peace | Partnership


Triple Bottom Line - People, Planet and Profit
Origin and Pioneer Definition
The report “Our Common Future (commonly known as Brundtland Report)” was released by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 that gave the popular definition of Sustainable Development.
Sustainable
Development
Goals
There is a total of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets with a targeted timeline of 2030 that cover diverse topics from ending poverty to making partnerships and are formed with 5 key areas of focus to leave no one and no country behind. There are 247 indicators listed in the global indicator framework under SDGs.
Sustainability is different from CSR

There is a general misunderstanding that CSR is the same as Corporate Philanthropy, and hence giving away for charity is often misconstrued as the only CSR activity a corporate organisation needs to engage in.

Although philanthropy may be a part of the CSR strategies of a business, there is much more to CSR than simply philanthropic gestures, and charitable initiatives.
WHAT USE IS A SAWMILL WITHOUT A FOREST?
Sustainability is the Ability to Sustain

There are five Ps of Sustainability Development Goals
People | Planet | Prosperity | Peace | Partnership


Triple Bottom Line - People, Planet and Profit
Origin and Pioneer Definition
The report “Our Common Future (commonly known as Brundtland Report)” was released by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 that gave the popular definition of Sustainable Development.
Sustainable Development Goals
There is a total of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets with a targeted timeline of 2030 that cover diverse topics from ending poverty to making partnerships and are formed with 5 key areas of focus to leave no one and no country behind. There are 247 indicators listed in the global indicator framework under SDGs.
Sustainability is different from CSR

There is a general misunderstanding that CSR is the same as Corporate Philanthropy, and hence giving away for charity is often misconstrued as the only CSR activity a corporate organisation needs to engage in.

Although philanthropy may be a part of the CSR strategies of a business, there is much more to CSR than simply philanthropic gestures, and charitable initiatives.

Timeline of ESG Evolution

timeline

Jargons Simplified

Take – make – Waste – Reuse – Make – This is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose of), in which resources are used for as long as possible, the maximum value is extracted from them whilst in use, after which products and materials are recovered and regenerated at the end of each service life. The idea of a circular economy is called circularity. It is also referred to as “cradle-to-cradle”.
This refers to all the stages of a product from extraction or acquisition of raw materials through manufacturing and processing, distribution and transportation, use and reuse, recycling and disposal. In the case of services, it refers to all activities and processes from design to delivery
BRSR Lite – to be adopted voluntarily by unlisted companies above the specified threshold of turnover/paid-up capital. The Lite version has fewer essential and leadership questions
The nine principles in NGRBC are categorized into the ESG components of Environment, Society and Governance with four of the nine in Governance, two in Environment and three in society
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an independent international organization that has been working on corporate sustainability reporting since 1997. GRI’s mission is to empower decision-makers and network of stakeholders through its standards for sustainability reporting. GRI in collaboration with the United Nations Environmental Protection Agency and the United Nations Global Compact aids the production, ongoing review and assessment of the GRI Standards
The Integrated Reporting Framework was released in 2013 by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) after extensive consultation and testing by businesses and investors throughout the world. The purpose of the Framework is to establish Guiding Principles and Content Elements that govern the overall content of an integrated report and to explain the fundamental
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 2015 as a call for action by all the 192 member states in a global partnership for peace and prosperity for the people and environment, in a long-term perspective. It was made based on the understanding that the strategies to improve economic growth, education, health, and equality should be made together with the preservation of the environment and tackling climate change
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) released the National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental, and Economic Responsibilities of Business (NVGs), a set of guidelines for the organisations in India, on how to demonstrate their responsibilities related to economy, environment and society. The NVGs were revised to National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC) in 2019
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in August 2012 released a circular “Business Responsibility Reports” mandating the disclosure of the non-financial performance for the top 100 listed companies on BSE and NSE as of the end of the financial year 2011-12 in India in a particular format named Business Responsibility Report (BRR). In December 2015, this applicability was extended to the 500 top listed Indian companies

ESG Jargons Simplified

Circular Economy
Take – make – Waste – Reuse – Make - This is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose of), in which resources are used for as long as possible, the maximum value is extracted from them whilst in use, after which products and materials are recovered and regenerated at the end of each service life. The idea of a circular economy is called circularity. It is also referred to as “cradle-to-cradle”
Product Life Cycle
This refers to all the stages of a product from extraction or acquisition of raw materials through manufacturing and processing, distribution and transportation, use and reuse, recycling and disposal. In the case of services, it refers to all activities and processes from design to delivery
BRSR Lite
BRSR Lite - to be adopted voluntarily by unlisted companies above the specified threshold of turnover/paid-up capital. The Lite version has fewer essential and leadership questions
Principles in NGRBC
The nine principles in NGRBC are categorized into the ESG components of Environment, Society and Governance with four of the nine in Governance, two in Environment and three in society
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
GRI - Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an independent international organization that has been working on corporate sustainability reporting since 1997. GRI’s mission is to empower decision-makers and network of stakeholders through its standards for sustainability reporting. GRI in collaboration with the United Nations Environmental Protection Agency and the United Nations Global Compact aids the production, ongoing review and assessment of the GRI Standards
International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)
The Integrated Reporting Framework was released in 2013 by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) after extensive consultation and testing by businesses and investors throughout the world. The purpose of the Framework is to establish Guiding Principles and Content Elements that govern the overall content of an integrated report and to explain the fundamental
Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs)
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 2015 as a call for action by all the 192 member states in a global partnership for peace and prosperity for the people and environment, in a long-term perspective. It was made based on the understanding that the strategies to improve economic growth, education, health, and equality should be made together with the preservation of the environment and tackling climate change
National Voluntary Guidelines (NGVs)
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) released the National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental, and Economic Responsibilities of Business (NVGs), a set of guidelines for the organisations in India, on how to demonstrate their responsibilities related to economy, environment and society. The NVGs were revised to National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC) in 2019
Business Responsibility Reports (BRR)
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in August 2012 released a circular “Business Responsibility Reports” mandating the disclosure of the non-financial performance for the top 100 listed companies on BSE and NSE as of the end of the financial year 2011-12 in India in a particular format named Business Responsibility Report (BRR). In December 2015, this applicability was extended to the 500 top listed Indian companies

BRSR Reporting Structure

COVID further accelerated the relevance of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations amongst investors and other stakeholders resulting in increased awareness and activism on their part.

Reporting of entities performance and disclosure requirements for non-financial information needs to keep pace with this change and the mandate of BRSR is a significant step towards this direction. As per the amendment to Regulation 34 (2) (f) of LODR Regulations vide Gazette notification no. SEBI/LAD – NRO/GN/2021/22 dated May 05, 2021, SEBI has introduced new reporting requirements on ESG parameters called the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR).

The format for BRSR is accompanied by a guidance note to enable the entities to interpret the scope of disclosures.

As per the new reporting requirements, with effect from the financial year 2022-2023, filing of Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) shall be mandatory for the top 1000 listed companies (by market capitalization) and shall replace the existing BRR. Filing of BRSR is voluntary for the Financial Year 2021-22.

Section A

General Disclosures

Basic information about the company (size, location, products, number of employees, CSR activities, etc.)

Section B

Management and Process Disclosures

Policies and processes relating to the principles laid out under NGRBC around leadership, governance and stakeholder engagement

Section C

Principle-wise Performance Disclosures

(Actions and Outcomes) How company is performing on each of the principles and core elements

  • Essential (Mandatory)
  • Leadership (Voluntary - Opportunity to show greater impact and outcomes)

BRSR Reporting or BRSR Lite Reporting can be voluntary adopted by other listed and unlisted companies.

As well, it is foreseen that BRSR Reporting will sooner or later become applicable to all listed and unlisted entities (including private limited entities)

Key Offerings on ESG

Sustainability Adoption and Implementation Services

We can enable policy mapping and drafting in the correlation of the existing framework to adopt sustainable measures. We can undertake the implementation of a sustainable approach - function/department specific and otherwise generic for industry-agnostic measures.

This would include policy drafting, aligning and mapping current policies with sustainability and its reporting requirement, enabling the implementation of the policies – framing procedures around the same and monitoring of the same.

Reporting and Compliance Support Services

We can take the role of an extended team of the organisations to equip and prepare for the Reporting and assist in managing the compliance documentation. We shall as well implement a digital workflow approach to reduce the time efforts required towards reporting and compliance activity.

This would include BRSR Reporting, GRI Reporting, SDG Reporting and IIRC Reporting along with developing internal tools and digital workflows to enable seamless compliance and collation of data from multiple sources.

Strategic Consulting on Driving Sustainability

We can work closely with the leadership team in the management to align the interest of the Board in terms of taking strategic decision making to create a proactive measure towards sustainability. We can recommend key drivers about sustainability specific to the entity to drive the culture and walk the talk in the industry towards taking aggressive measures, which can enable a positive impression and footprint.

This would include developing KPIs that support strategic and sustainable goals, providing strategic recommendations, Applying management accounting tools and techniques, such as scenario planning of natural resource availability, lifecycle costing, and helping integrate sustainability matters into the decision-making process.

Diligence and Assurance Support in CSR and Sustainability

We can perform diligence checks on the CSR spending as well as support organisations to get vetted on their credentials and activities. We can facilitate diligence checks for financial institutions, credit rating agencies and investors from a sustainability standpoint.

This would include performing diligence during raising funds, monitoring the funds deployed, produce reports which include data on business impacts on sustainability. It would inform stakeholders about strategic planning and various decisions are taken like budgeting and pricing decisions, investment appraisals.

Key Offerings on ESG

We can enable policy mapping and drafting in the correlation of the existing framework to adopt sustainable measures. We can undertake the implementation of a sustainable approach – function/department specific and otherwise generic for industry-agnostic measures.

This would include policy drafting, aligning and mapping current policies with sustainability and its reporting requirement, enabling the implementation of the policies – framing procedures around the same and monitoring of the same.

We can take the role of an extended team of the organisations to equip and prepare for the Reporting and assist in managing the compliance documentation. We shall as well implement a digital workflow approach to reduce the time efforts required towards reporting and compliance activity.

This would include BRSR Reporting, GRI Reporting, SDG Reporting and IIRC Reporting along with developing internal tools and digital workflows to enable seamless compliance and collation of data from multiple sources.

We can work closely with the leadership team in the management to align the interest of the Board in terms of taking strategic decision making to create a proactive measure towards sustainability. We can recommend key drivers about sustainability specific to the entity to drive the culture and walk the talk in the industry towards taking aggressive measures, which can enable a positive impression and footprint.

This would include developing KPIs that support strategic and sustainable goals, providing strategic recommendations, Applying management accounting tools and techniques, such as scenario planning of natural resource availability, lifecycle costing, and helping integrate sustainability matters into the decision-making process.

We can perform diligence checks on the CSR spending as well as support organisations to get vetted on their credentials and activities. We can facilitate diligence checks for financial institutions, credit rating agencies and investors from a sustainability standpoint.

This would include performing diligence during raising funds, monitoring the funds deployed, produce reports which include data on business impacts on sustainability. It would inform stakeholders about strategic planning and various decisions are taken like budgeting and pricing decisions, investment appraisals.