Basics for developing an effective sustainability reporting roadmap

Developing an effective roadmap for sustainability reporting is critical toward deriving maximum value from the disclosures. The vast amount of resources spent preparing sustainability reports demands value for money and an outcome that improves the report’s utility.

The roadmap is simply the map of an organisation’s sustainability reporting journey, detailing specific goals to be achieved towards its reporting ambition.

Organisations are advised to have a clear roadmap that guides the execution of their reporting strategy to ensure that sustainability reporting delivers tangible and visible benefits.

A failure to approach sustainability reporting holistically could result in severe consequences for an organisation and be very costly. Therefore, organisations should consider the following to derive the maximum value from sustainability reporting in a fiercely competitive environment.

Organisations should align their business, sustainability and reporting strategies. This alignment ensures that long-term value creation is at the heart of the reporting roadmap. This way, sustainability becomes a substantive part of the organisation’s strategy as defined in its purpose.

There should be a clear understanding and emphasis placed on the opportunities arising from sustainability and how they translate into long-term financial success for the organisation in the short, medium and long term.

Organisations should also clearly articulate the sustainability risks they face and how managing these risks can help build resilience in the face of uncertainty and help contain costs.

The sustainability reporting roadmap should also include a stakeholder mapping of different functional teams across the organisations that will drive the cascaded sustainability agenda for each aspect of the business with clear reporting output and a dashboard on key performance indicators.

Organisations must also assess opportunities for technology investments that will aid compliance and decision-making on a timely basis with the correct data.

There should also be a data-led reporting strategy from the onset as sustainability material topics on risks, opportunities, and impacts are being identified to ensure that the organisation has the right data to track progress, which is essential for reporting.

Other key aspects of the sustainability reporting roadmap include getting assurance ready to improve reliance on the report, building trust with stakeholders and ensuring compliance with regulatory reporting obligations.

The writer is a partner at Deloitte East Africa. He writes and speaks widely on corporate reporting topics.