John’s Best Practices
With an impressive career of 25 years in EHS and a success for driving sustainability within his own organization, John shared some of his best practices when it comes to using EHS to drive ESG.
Focus on compliance first
One of the first places to start is by ensuring your organization is compliant when it comes to regulations related to Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS). Compliance with regional regulations and legislation is the bedrock of a strong foundation when it comes to your business and its sustainability initiatives. Environmental compliance, for example, plays a big role when it comes to establishing your ESG structure as they both share the environmental aspects related to your organization. So, take the time to fulfill all compliance requirements in order to have a strong foundation to build on.
Utilize EHS metrics as a foundation for sustainability KPIs
With a strong foundation in EHS compliance, you can begin to use your EHS-related metrics as the basis of sustainability reporting. Certain key performance indicators (KPIs) used in EHS can transfer directly into your ESG-related metrics. One example of this is your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which measure your organization's Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. This metric is found within both EHS and ESG, yet ESG reporting allows you to break this down into more specific areas. As EHS professionals, it’s also worth noting that all the skills you’ve learned while collecting your EHS-related metrics can be used to your advantage in your sustainability reporting, like senior leadership and frontline buy-in and collaboration, as well as breaking down silos to establish strong communication between departments.
Make sure the right people are in the right areas
In some organizations, EHS professionals are tasked with driving sustainability because of the environmental element of their role; however, this is not one person or department’s responsibility. Sustainability can take many different forms and is often touched by many people in the organization, from the HR department to the CFO. Make sure that the right people are tapped into the right areas which match their expertise for accurate, effective sustainability data you can rely on.
Implement a digital solution for optimum data
Implementing a digital solution can help you save time while obtaining accurate sustainability data. John discussed how EcoOnline’s sustainability software, powered by Ecometrica, gave the company a better approach to calculate their annual emissions. Previously John and his team used Excel spreadsheets to calculate their data, which was extremely time consuming and prone to human error. This was not an effective method for such a global organization with many locations and moving parts. With access to sustainability software, they have been able to streamline reporting by reducing the amount of time needed to complete these calculations and provide data to customers and leadership they can rely on, with the help of a dedicated sustainability analyst.