Sustainability Report, Part II

TOOL HIGHLIGHTS

GHG emissions throughout the value chain

The most important element of any Sustainability Report is a thorough account of the organization's greenhouse gas emissions throughout its value chain. This visualization separates the value chain into three key components at the top, with the scope of emissions listed underneath. 

Scope 3 includes all indirect emissions associated with upstream and downstream operations. This is usually the largest contributor, typically 90% of a company's emissions. Scope 3 Upstream comes first in the value chain and covers emissions created by production activities like material or goods procurement, services purchased, or employee commutes and business travel.

Scope 1 covers "direct emissions" from operations, like owned assets such as buildings, equipment or vehicles that burn fuel. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions created from purchased energy to power buildings and vehicles. 

Scope 3 Downstream emissions are those that come from the transportation of goods to customers, or the use of sold products and the waste they create. Use a GHG emissions calculator to break down each percent of total emissions and plug them into this visualization to share with external stakeholders. (Slide 9)

Exxon Mobil case study 

Even oil companies are tracking their GHG emissions now. For example, the oil company Exxon Mobil recently made a pledge to reduce its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions through electrification of operations with renewable power. However, other oil companies like Shell, BP and Equinor all made plans to reduce Scope 3 emissions with investments in carbon capture, reforestation, or the sale of hydrocarbon businesses to invest more in renewable sources. Exxon is now a target of activist investors and will likely be pushed harder to accelerate its divestment efforts. 

Materiality matrix 

This materiality matrix visualization can be used to prioritize ESG topics to dedicate resources to. It visualizes sustainability across two dimensions: the importance of an activity to stakeholders on the vertical axis, and the amount of impact to a business on the horizontal. 

A key on the right indicates which topics cover governance, people and safety, and environmental topics. Execs should focus on the top right quadrant because it has the largest importance to stakeholders as well as the largest business impact. This doesn't mean topics in lower quadrants don't matter, but the quadrant helps you triage tasks to address first. (Slide 15)

Sustainability development goals 

In this sustainable development goal slide, the icons at the top correlate to the top 17 goals adopted by the UN as part of its 2030 Sustainability agenda. In order to evaluate and demonstrate your ESG credibility, execs can plug in their organization's progress. 

The lefthand column features development areas to innovate, while the key at the top right indicates the organization's level of completion towards each goal. The total contribution at the bottom provides a benchmark for the organization's overall contribution towards each category. (Slide 16)

Consumer willingness 

Last, this trend board can visualize data across regions to share with stakeholders. Across each continent, a piechart dictates different years for comparison to show growth across consumer willingness to pay more for sustainable goods and services. 

This helps prove to your stakeholders that resources and investments put into sustainability are backed up by data and meet market demand, and if you don't invest, you could lose your competitive edge. (Slide 10)