New Service Launched to Support EU Compliant Corporate Sustainability Reporting

 
The new service designed both for companies that already publish corporate sustainability reports seeking to make sure they meet today’s standards and for those that have never published them that will either be subject to the EU law or will have clients who are subject to it. It is also available to human capital management consulting, corporate communications, or other firms seeking to create or enhance corporate sustainability reporting practices for their clients to avoid accusations of greenwashing. 

Together, the companies offer a multi-lingual briefing program for management or speaking program for events drawing executives and managers in finance, general management, investor relations, marketing, human resources, corporate communications, and legal.  
 

A Full Range of Support Services for Stakeholder Reporting

 This new CSRD-compliant Corporate Sustainability Reporting service provides briefing, public speaking, training and advisory services in the US and UK by the New York-based Enterprise Engagement Alliance's Engagement Agency; by Germany-based 4C GROUP in the European Union, and by Pakistan-based HR Metrics in Asia and MEAPAC. The service is for boards; asset management; CEOs; financial, legal, marketing, human resources, DEI and other management, educators and students. Over 60,000 companies, including at least 3,000 of the largest companies in the US and many in their distribution and supply chain will have to comply with a law starting in 2025 reporting 2024 data against 2023. The reports will be in a worldwide available digital database offering an unparalleled level of detail on organizational practices and metrics of large enterprises related to their engagement with all stakeholders and the environment. In addition, many companies that publish corporate sustainability reports will need to rethink them, based on the higher level of specificity required of the new reporting standards that could make current reports look like greenwashing,” points out Bruce Bolger, Founder of the Enterprise Engagement Alliance.

 
“We can safely say that there simply is not an organization worldwide that that combines all the expertise we offer necessary to turn corporate sustainability reporting into a business opportunity-- not only by complying with the spirit of the new disclosure law but by providing a meaningful way to back up claims made in marketing and communications and as a powerful means to keep all stakeholders focused on the organization’s North Star,” says Dr. Heiko Mauterer, Board Member of 4C GROUP, a lperformance management and human capital management auditing firm in the EU.   

4C GROUP is one of the few companies that have helped major companies create Corporate Sustainability Reports audited for conformity with ISO 30414 Human Capital disclosures, including Allianz, Infineon, DWS and Deutsche Bank. The Enterprise Engagement Alliance is one of the only organizationa that has produced a Corporate Sustainability Report for a SME (small- to medium-size company) independently audited for all stakeholder practices by David Simmons for the International Center for Enterprise Engagement: an international application development company known as JetRuby.

Zahid Mubarik, whose company, HR Metrics in Pakistan has provided certification and instruction to nearly 400 professionals in MEAPAC, Japan, and now the US, notes that the "ISO 30414 Human Capital standards cover most of the metrics involved with workplace management in the new EU CSRD and remain the only human capital standards that are independently auditable under long-established ISO (International Organization for Standardization) practices." 
 
According to Bolger, the new service is based on a market analysis finding not only that most corporations are not yet prepared for this new level of stakeholder management disclosure, but that “even the management consulting and corporate communications companies focused on the market will have to elevate their game, as the old public-relations oriented approach to corporate sustainability reporting is on its way out. Furthermore, those advisory firms that assist their clients with developing corporate sustainability reports cannot be the same organization that audits and certifies them." 
 

An Interdisciplinary Approach

 
Dr. Mauterer continues, “Based on our experience, a meaningful corporate sustainability report that will stand up not only to review by customers, employees, supply chain and distribution partners, and communities, but potentially statutory disclosure requirements, requires an inter-disciplinary approach that starts with CEO and C-suite commitment to an ROI- rather than compliance-based approach; alignment of stakeholder management practices, metrics, and reporting across the enterprise, and strong communications not only in the creation but the marketing of the final annual corporate sustainability report.” Click here for a primer on how to create a corporate sustainability report in conformance with the new EU CSRD.
 
Backed by the force of law in the world’s third largest economy, and equally applicable to companies that do business with those companies, the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive is expected to drive a “tsunami” of change in business by requiring companies to disclose specific information on employee pay, pay equity, diversity, wellness, safety, as well as practices of their supply chain and distribution partners, in addition to detailed information on customer and community engagement practices, metrics, and outcomes.
 
Says Bolger, “This transatlantic combination of human resources, ISO standards, marketing, and regulatory expertise and resources combines unparalleled expertise that will be required of organizations that see the new standard  as an opportunity. This includes the development of the corporate sustainability business and reporting plan; including clarification of internal and external brand architecture, goals and objectives; stakeholder management analytics and data collection, with strong communications components every step of the way through to the final annual report, and of course appropriate third-party legal counsel, especially for those 60,000 or more companies that will be subject to the new law. 

Access to the Independent Auditors

 
The service can also recommend attorneys and the world’s most qualified human capital auditors.
 
Through an affiliation with the International Center for Enterprise Engagement, the parties are helping to develop an independent community of rigorously trained practitioners who will be capable of auditing and/or creating CSRD conforming Corporate Sustainability Reports. These currently include Dr. Mauterer, who serves on the committee that created the standard and is among the few individuals to have audited the human capital reports of major companies; Zahid Mubarik, CEO, Founder of HR Metrics in Pakistan, who has developed the world’s largest cohort of ISO 30414 trained practitioners;  David Simmons, of HCM Metrics in Great Britain; Adi Amin Adi, head of human resources for Money for Finance in Jordan and Dr. Saqlain Sher, and HR consultant, certified by ICEE, and Bruce Bolger, Founder of ICEE, who has conducted the only ISO 10018 People Engagement audits. 

The founders believe the service addresses a critical void in both business and professional education: an understanding of stakeholder management, metrics, and reporting as a process for new value creation and better experiences for all stakeholders.
 

Who Can Benefit

 
Summarizes Bolger, “Services include everything we’ve learned from our extensive experience about what is required to implement an independently auditable, meaningful corporate sustainability report in the word and spirit of the European Union law and how to access third-party auditors who have the skills, integrity, and their own certifications to help enforce quality assurance for the claims made in corporate sustainability reports.”
 
Dr. Mauterer says the “The new EU-Based Corporate Sustainability Reporting Standard is designed to benefit:

• Asset managers who need to understand how to evaluate and consider the “S” of Environmental, Social, Governance in their portfolio management.
• Boards, CEOs, C-suite executives in finance, marketing, sales, and marketing who need to understand the principles of stakeholder management, metrics, reporting and how to create new value through people and better experiences in a manner taught at very few schools.
• Executives in marketing, HR, or communications who seek to seize the leadership opportunity.
• Consulting, advisory, and legal firm executives, and professionals seeking to develop expertise and/or a practice in stakeholder management and reporting.
• Professionals in DEI seeking to address diversity as a business opportunity as well as a social or compliance issue.
• Front-line management who will need to apply stakeholder principles to their practices.
• Educators and students in business, management, administration, and human resources (free educational memberships are available.)

For More Information
Bruce Bolger, Founder
Enterprise Engagement Alliance at TheEEA.org
914-591-7600, ext. 230
Bolger@TheEEA.org

Subscribe to ESM's weekly newsletter.