Own Your ESG Story and How You Tell It

One of the hottest regulatory buttons coming into 2022 is environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk. In recent years, we’ve seen how the choices banks have made in investing in these areas or supporting clients with aligning missions have directly impacted their bottom line.

Now that focus on ESG is driving shifts in how organizations manage internal and external processes; it’s extending all the way to their financial reporting. With that spotlight intensified, this is the time for you to understand and define your organization’s story – then own how you share that story with your different audiences, as I advised in a recent Forbes Finance Council discussion.

To start, be transparent with your investors, customers and employees around ESG reporting. In particular, these groups are looking at diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), not to mention climate change mitigation and carbon neutrality; both of these areas have financial and non-financial reporting implications.

ESG reporting allows you to demonstrate what is important to you and where you are shifting your resources to support these priorities. Consider how to tell your stories not only internally, but particularly externally, as consumers are increasingly making buying decisions – which means bringing their money to your bank – based on values alignment.

Forbes Finance Council experts recently offered seven tips on how to adapt to the growing influence ESG is having on financial reporting processes and resource allocation. Check out their insights and be ready to tell your ESG story.