ESG Compliance – A basic self-assessment checklist from Safetymint

The importance of ESG as a criteria to evaluate today’s businesses has grown prominence in recent years. In fact, as you read this, global businesses are rewriting their ESG statements to not only meet compliance demands but also as a strategic plan for growth, investments and a sustainable future. At Safetymint, we learnt this need and believe that every business, irrespective of its size, has a responsibility to its customers and community. But often, they do not know where to get started, or are overwhelmed with information that forces them to sideline ESG as a lower priority task.

Why is ESG important?

Economists today look at ESG has investment for higher economic returns. So a business that focusses on its Environment, Social and coroporate Governance policies are considered to be better positioned to meet the demands of a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous future. Inspired and being in line with the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN, a business can build brand equity and trust among its internal stakeholders – employees, investors, suppliers as well as external stakeholders – customers and the community they operate in.

What is an ESG Audit?

An ESG Audit reviews the policies and standard operating procedures in place introduced by the business to address the three aspects – Environment, Social and Governance. Although there is no hard-written rules to measure KPIs against a benchmark, businesses have the freedom to define their own KPIs that contribute significantly to ESG. We cover the different factors below that may be considered while doing an ESG audit ..

1. Environment

Sourcing of Raw Materials for Production
Discharges to air, water and land as a direct result of the business operations
Packaging, Storage and Supply of Finished Goods
Waste Management – Responsible Disposal of Expired Goods
Energy Management – Recycling and Reuse – Covering Power and Water consumption

2. Social

Employment Policies – Equal Opportunity Employer
Diversity and Inclusion
Customer Centricity
Community Initiatives – CSR

3. Governance

Data Protection / Data Privacy / Data Security
Data Storage, Archival and Retrieval Policies
Responsible Disclosures / Transparency
Board of Directors – Commitment – Code of Conduct – Business Ethics/Values

How to get started easily, and for free?

The Audits module in Safetymint has a basic pre-loaded checklist for ESG compliance. This checklist also helps you get started to evaluate the gaps and assess the needs – both at a system level and also at the management policy level. Take the 14-day free trial to get started.

View our library of safety inspection checklists.