Sustainability and ESG reporting is becoming commonplace among medium and large companies, as well as non-profit organizations. The ultimate goal of ESG, which is the acronym used to describe environmental, social and governance externalities, is to provide transparent, holistic and non-financial information to stakeholders with the expectation that positive and measurable social and environmental impacts will result. This course is designed to provide a high level introduction to the basic concepts of sustainability, the common metrics used, ESG standards and standard setting bodies. We will learn to recognize why and how organizations can gain a competitive advantage by utilizing this emerging reporting framework.
Learning Objectives
- Learn the basic concepts of sustainability and what sustainability reporting includes
- Identify the sustainability metrics being used or proposed by standard setting bodies around the world
- Recognize various concepts and terms used to describe ESG reporting activities
- Identify practical problems with implementation and the realistic limits on positive outcomes
Major Topics
- Identify the motivation for organizations to incorporate ESG into corporate reporting
- Key sustainability and reporting frameworks and standards
- The major standard setting bodies around the world
- How do practitioners support ESG reporting goals
- How can private enterprise view ESG reporting
