ESG Archives - Value Added

Industry update – ISO launches ISO ESG Implementation Principles (IWA 48)

November 19, 2024November 19, 2024by valueaddedinLeave a comment

ISO launches ISO ESG Implementation Principles (IWA 48)

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has launched the ISO ESG Implementation Principles, providing guidance to enhance the integration, performance, measurement, and reporting of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.

The ISO ESG Implementation Principles (IWA 48) provide a high-level framework to help organizations integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices into their operations. This guidance supports consistent, comparable, and reliable ESG management, measurement, and reporting aligned with existing global frameworks. By serving as a universal reference model, it promotes global interoperability and fosters a culture of sustainable business practices.

Key objectives of the principles include:

Supporting transparent and effective ESG management.
Improving measurement and reporting under existing frameworks for consistency, comparability, and reliability.
Aligning with global standards to ensure interoperability and clear communication of sustainability efforts.
Helping organizations integrate ESG requirements, establish KPIs, and assess their ESG maturity.

The principles were collaboratively developed with input from over 1,900 experts and national standards bodies such as the British Standards Institution (BSI) and Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT), The principles address all aspects of ESG, including climate action, social inclusion, and governance, offering a holistic approach. They also outline measurable KPIs to assess organizational maturity and align with frameworks such as IFRS/ISSB S1 and S2 and the EU’s ESRS standards. While not a standalone reporting framework, the document complements existing standards, enabling organizations to enhance their ESG performance and contribute to a resilient, responsible global business ecosystem

Click here to read the IWA 48 framework

Soruce: https://www.esgtoday.com/iso-launches-principles-for-esg-performance-and-reporting/
https://www.iso.org/standard/89240.html

Information Updates

January 30, 2024February 1, 2024by valueaddedinLeave a comment

GRI Launches New Biodiversity Reporting Standard

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), one of the leading organizations promoting standardized ESG reporting releases updated Biodiversity Standard (GRI 101: 2024) to help companies disclose their biodiversity impacts and management measures.

This new standard provides a comprehensive framework for companies to report on their biodiversity impacts and take action to address them, contributing to a global effort to conserve and protect biodiversity.

Key Points:

New standard aligns with recent global biodiversity initiatives like Kunming-Montreal Framework and TNFD recommendations.
Enables reporting on:
— Supply chain impacts
— Location-specific impacts with detailed site information
— Direct drivers of biodiversity loss (land use, climate change, etc.)
— Impacts on society and human rights
— Management of these impacts
Standard effective January 2026, early adopter pilot starting now.

Source:https://www.esgtoday.com/gri-launches-new-biodiversity-reporting-standard/

Source: https://www.esgtoday.com/

Sustainability – Mega opportunity

December 31, 2023December 31, 2023by valueaddedinLeave a comment

In sustainability, a mega opportunity for Indian banks

As India passes the reins of the G20, it has signalled an unwavering dedication to combating global environmental and sustainability challenges. The G20 sustainability working group meetings have spotlighted key pillars: harnessing climate finance, embracing the sustainability development goals (SDGs), and nurturing the financial ecosystem’s capacity.

In parallel, India’s nationally determined contribution commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the ambitious 2070 net zero emissions target unveil a grand vision of fortifying climate resilience and nurturing sustainable growth.

The big gap: funding the shift to a greener future

Nevertheless, there is a considerable gap between the financial requisites for these ambitions and the current landscape–making for a significant opportunity for India’s banking sector to tap into.

The G20 Leaders declaration underscores the importance of sustainable finance, highlighting needs like for developing countries, blended finance instruments, and reforming multilateral institutions.

Worldwide, banks are increasingly integrating sustainability into their operations. Many have committed substantial funds for sustainability and are transitioning away from fossil fuel financing. They’re also innovating with sustainable finance products like green bonds and leveraging technology for broader customer outreach and lower carbon footprints

While India’s banking sector has begun its ESG journey, it’s still navigating the challenges of balancing sustainability with developmental needs. Drawing from global trends and G20 insights, Indian banks can harness ESG for value creation. By integrating sustainability considerations and technology-driven decision-making, they can champion environmental and social transformation in India’s financial realm.

Indian banks have a pivotal role in driving social change, achieving national objectives, and expanding their lending portfolios.

Their success hinges on accessing global capital, innovating for new segments, and prioritizing digitalization and ESG integration in decision-making.

Achieving these objectives not only promises financial success but also positions Indian banks as leaders in the sustainability transition.

Click here to read the article

source: https://www.livemint.com/

SEBI – Regulatory Frame Work

July 14, 2023July 14, 2023by valueaddedinLeave a comment

Sebi – Regulatory Framework for value chain ESG disclosures for listed entities

Sebi came out with a regulatory framework for listed entities on ESG disclosures on supply chain and assurance.

Sebi has introduced BRSR Core, a sub-set of the BRSR (Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report), comprising nine Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for several E, S and G factors that need to be assured. Under the framework, large listed companies will have to make disclosures and obtain assurance as per ‘BRSR Core’ for their value chain.

Keeping in view the relevance to the Indian market context, few new KPIs have been identified for assurance such as job creation in small towns, openness of business and gross wages paid to women. Further, for better global comparability, intensity ratios based on revenue adjusted for purchasing power parity have been included.

In addition, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has introduced disclosures and assurance for the value chain of listed entities, as per the BRSR Core. In the supply chain, Sebi said that ESG disclosures according to the BRSR Core for the top 250 companies on a comply-or-explain basis will start from 2024-25, with assurance beginning the following year, according to a circular.

Disclosures for the value chain will be made by the listed company as per BRSR Core as part of its annual report. In this regard, the value chain would encompass the top upstream and downstream partners of a listed entity, cumulatively comprising 75 per cent of its purchases or sales by value, respectively.

As per Sebi, listed entities will have to report the KPIs in the BRSR Core for their value chain to the extent it is attributable to their business with that value chain partner. Such reporting may be segregated for upstream and downstream partners or can be reported on an aggregate basis. Sebi also said the board of the listed entity will have to ensure that the assurance provider of the BRSR Core has the necessary expertise for undertaking reasonable assurance. Further, the listed entity would have to ensure that there is no conflict of interest with the assurance provider appointed to assure the BRSR Core. For instance, it needs to be ensured that the assurance provider or any of its associates do not sell its products or provide any non-audit related service, including consulting services, to the listed entity or its group entities

Click here to View the SEBI Notification

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/sebi-puts-in-place-regulatory-framework-for-value-chain-esg-disclosures-for-listed-entities-10948501.html

Industry information update – ESG on construction industry

July 10, 2023July 10, 2023by valueaddedinLeave a comment

ESG for transformational affordable housing

Environment, Social and Governance are the three facets that characterise sustainable responsible investing for any organisation.

The rise of ESG standards in construction industry is expected to create a resilient and successful marketplace with long-term benefits fo stakeholders through a coordinated attempt to reduce the negative impacts on the environment.

The ESG framework for construction projects is developed in similar lines to the green building certification requirements, making green buildings a subset of it. The following are the key ESG parameters considered for any construction project:

Environmental	Social	Governance
Energy savings and carbon emissions offset	Labour health, safety and environment	Enforcement of labour laws
Waste and Water management	Gender inclusion	Awareness of staff welfare and benefits
Resource efficiency through reducing, reusing, and recycling	Community engagement and buyer satisfaction	Fair payment terms and company policies
Occupant well-being and indoor environment comfort

ESG provides a holistic strategy to enable a builder to gain understanding on the negative environmental and social impacts of their housing projects. For example, construction waste generated on site must be segregated and disposed of in a responsible manner.

Additionally, safety signages should be displayed in the local language of the construction workforce and mandating usage of PPE for them

It also enables the typically first-generation developers in the affordable housing segment to strengthen their corporate governance policies. For example, maintaining regularised wages and working hours for construction workers on site. Provision of a creche facility at the construction site to educate the construction worker’s children along with enforcing relevant policies to strengthen the prohibition of child & forced labour practices.

Infusing the concepts of ESG to create best practices for the construction sector will further help in achieving India’s climate target to reduce Emissions Intensity of its GDP by 45 % by 2030. This will further be a small step towards achieving India’s long-term goal of reaching net zero by 2070.2

So far India’s climate mitigation actions have been mostly financed from domestic resources. However, to address the challenge of climate change and achieve the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), there is a need for new and tailor-made funding required. Such funding opportunities are now coming in form of green bonds and climate finance from Development Finance Institutions to Indian banks and NonBanking Financial Companies (NBFCs).

The role of ESG is crucial to achieve the targets under India’s Panchamrit plan. To achieve this, real estate investors and lending companies should ensure that financing is aligned with positive and measurable climate, social and environmental co-benefits

Source:https://bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/nbfc/esg-for-transformational-affordable-housing/101451819

Industry Information Update – ESG

July 10, 2023July 10, 2023by valueaddedinLeave a comment

ESGpedia registry ensures suppliers hold accredited ISO certifications, helping companies manage global supply chain sustainability

Asia’s leading environmental, social, and governance (‘ESG’) data and technology solutions company, STACS, announced that its platform ESGpedia can help corporates manage supply chain sustainability by ensuring that suppliers hold accredited ISO certifications. The latest progress involves collaboration with International Accreditation Forum’s (‘IAF’) global certificate database IAF CertSearch and Quality Trade.

Global leader in solar innovation and channels, Maxeon Solar Technologies (‘Maxeon’), is onboard as a corporate representative in the live use case, and is making further progress in its supplier sustainability monitoring using ESGpedia.

Maxeon first commenced utilising holistic data and digital solutions on STACS’s ESGpedia to monitor the sustainability performance of suppliers in Maxeon’s end-to-end supply chain last October 2022.

In the latest development, ESGpedia platform enables Maxeon to ensure that suppliers within its supply chain meet Maxeon’s corporate sustainability requirements of being ISO-compliant.

A company’s supply chain accounts for majority of its scope 3 emissions. With rising regulatory, consumer, and investor scrutiny, companies like Maxeon have implemented corporate sustainability measures to manage its supply chain sustainability and decarbonise – and this is where monitoring comes in place to ensure the success of these initiatives.

Lindsey Wiedmann, Chief Legal & Sustainability Officer at Maxeon, said: “As part of our company’s purpose of Powering Positive Change™, Maxeon screens suppliers carefully and requires them to be ISO-certified. The goal of our partnership with ESGpedia by STACS is to achieve a one-stop holistic view of all relevant ISO certificates of current suppliers in one portfolio on a single data registry.”

In the latest collaboration, ESGpedia connects directly with IAF CertSearch, powered by Quality Trade, to retrieve valid accredited ISO certificates. Validity of certificates is dependent on numerous factors such as expiry or any updates in the company’s sustainability commitment.

Established by the IAF, IAF CertSearch is a global database of 900,000+ verified and accredited ISO Certificates obtained from various accreditation and certification bodies. ESGpedia then harmonises the ISO certificates data into standardized company ESG profiles, and organises Maxeon’s current suppliers’ ESG profiles into a single portfolio for ease of verification and monitoring by Maxeon. Based on various factors, Maxeon is also able to gain full transparency of which suppliers across their entire supply chain hold valid accredited certifications and be alerted when there is a change to the status of any certification, helping Maxeon manage supply chain risk.

Sharon Yuen, Chief Commercial Officer at STACS, said: “With ESGpedia, we support corporates’ net zero journey and help them manage their supply chain sustainability and scope 3 emissions, to stay ahead of regulations, future-proof, and strengthen their competitive edge. A digital solution is especially key for companies like Maxeon with more complex supply chains and regional suppliers. We are therefore delighted to be collaborating with International Accreditation Forum and Quality Trade, and furthering our partnership with corporates like Maxeon through ESGpedia, to help them ensure the overall green-ness of their supply chains.”

Emanuele Riva, Chair at International Accreditation Forum, said: “The IAF CertSearch database helps businesses, asset owners and regulators know exactly which organisations in their supply chains, portfolios and networks hold valid accredited certifications.”

Rajesh Maheshwari, IAF Database Management Committee Chair, said “There has never been a more important time to know your suppliers, customers, and investees meet international standards, particularly in the area of ESG. The database quells fears of greenwashing as it records and provides transparency of the validity of certifications.”

Nigel Johnston, Chief Executive Officer at Quality Trade, said: “Businesses, asset owners and regulators require swift and reliable exchange of information to operate in today’s digital environment. We look forward to working with STACS to ensure valid accredited certification information can be aggregated and easily accessed on ESGpedia, helping organisation such as Maxeon to achieve their sustainability goals.”

Earlier this year in May (23 May 2023), the latest ESGpedia platform version was launched at its one-year milestone since its deployment in May 2022, with greater data coverage, solutions and analytics, and the ESCAP Sustainable Business Network (‘ESBN’) Asia-Pacific Green Deal for Businesses digital assessment.

Available at no cost on ESGpedia, the digitalised and simplified self-assessment tool is designed to lower the barriers to entry for corporates and SMEs to kickstart their sustainability journey through a form of an easy and guided program towards sustainability, and to report metrics that are aligned with stakeholders’ needs for consistent, comparable, and shareable data.

This helps suppliers who have yet embarked on sustainability or any certifications to start easily with a simplified and guided program, to attain their ESBN Asia-Pacific Green Deal badge to showcase their sustainability commitment to corporates like Maxeon.

For further information, please contact:

STACS (www.stacs.io)
Grace Lim, Senior Marketing Manager
Email: grace.lim@stacs.io

Source: https://stacs.io/esgpedia-registry-ensures-suppliers-hold-accredited-iso-certifications-helping-companies-manage-global-supply-chain-sustainability/

Report of the Survey on Climate Risk and Sustainable Finance

March 27, 2023March 27, 2023by valueaddedinLeave a comment

The RBI Report of the Survey on Climate Risk and Sustainable Finance

The RBI released a discussion paper exploring strategies to address Climate change related financial risks on July 2022.

Climate-related risks refer to the potential risks that may arise from climate change or from efforts to mitigate climate change, their related impact and the economic and financial consequences.

It can impact the financial sector through two broad channels — physical risks and transition risks

The paper suggested that regulated entities use stress testing and climate scenario analysis to identify and assess vulnerabilities in their businesses. The key learning and suggestions from the survey on climate risk and sustainable finance are categorised under the following topics.

Risk management
Governance
Climate-related financial disclosures
Opportunities from transition to a green future
HR and capacity building
Green initiatives (internal)

Based on the feedback received, the RBI shall issue several guidelines in a phased manner for Regulated Entities. These guidelines shall include

Broad framework for acceptance of Green Deposits
Disclosure framework on Climate related Financial Risks.
Guidance on Climate Scenario Analysis and Stress Testing

RBI has also decided to have a dedicated webpage on its website which will consolidate all instructions, press releases, publications,speeches and related RBI communication on Climate risk and sustainable finance.

Click here to read RBI survey report

Source:https://m.rbi.org.in//Scripts/PublicationReportDetails.aspx?UrlPage=&ID=1215

WAD 2022 Event Update from CCC

June 25, 2022June 25, 2022by valueaddedinLeave a comment

World Accreditation Day Conference – Post Event Update

World Accreditation Day Conference 2022 – Post Event Update

WAD 2022 Conference jointly organised by International Accreditation Services (IAS), USA; Bureau of Indian Standards and Consultants Consortium of Chennai ended on June 10th 2022 with a positive a note.

Two days conference held on June 9th and 10th had eminent speakers from India and abroad , from various sectors , sharing rich insights about Standards, Certifications, Accreditations, Inspections & Regulations related to Sustainability and Environment across the globe.

Two days of intense learning sessions came to an end on June 10th.

Conference had 324 delegates registering for multiple sessions across two days and the feedback received from them is very encouraging.

The conference is supported by many Trade and Industry Platforms as listed below :

Sharing few pictures of the event for reference :

Dr R Velraj & CCC’s VP Mr Ramkumar Sivaraman

Dr Deepak Samuel V, CMR – NCSCM, Speaker

Mr Ashish Dev
Lead Auditor & Tutor- COTECNA India

Mr Premkumar Jayvin
Md/ Principal Consultant , Jayvin Management Systems and Solutions

Dr R Velraj & Dr Ghadevaru Sarathchandra

Mr Ramanathan Ganesan
DQS India , Speaker

Ms B Sandhya, Scientist G – Head – Certification, KIHT, Speaker

Dr Harinder Singh Oberoi
Advisor ( Quality Assurance ) – FSSAI

Mr VIshnu P. Sudarsan
Partner, J Sagar Associates

Dr Aparna Dhawan
Executive Director, TIC Council India

Ms Jyotsna Belliappa, Founder and Director – Bluesky Sustainable Business, Speaker

Mr Sandeep Bhargava
CEO – Onecert International
Nominee – ACBI, Speaker

Session Videos are shared here for industry and stakeholders benefit. Please check the links below

INAUGURAL SESSION :
Theme – Sustainability in Economic Growth and the Environment

Click Here

TECHNICAL SESSION 1:
Theme – Sustainable Standards for a Safer World

Click Here

TECHNICAL SESSION 2 :
Theme – ESG Rating for Sustainability Initiatives

Click Here

TECHNICAL SESSION 3 :
Theme – Sustainability Initiatives in Food Sector

Click Here

TECHNICAL SESSION 4 :
Theme – Sustainable Healthcare Initiatives

Click Here

TECHNICAL SESSION 5 :
Theme – Incorporating Sustainability in Educational Institutions

Click Here