Plussing up the ESG future

Consider FuturePlus as a simple way to measure, manage and report your sustainable growth to employees and stakeholders in real-time, says Alex Smith of The Sustainability Group.

At the height of the pandemic, in October 2020 BEIS slipped out the results of a piece of research it had commissioned to build an initial evidence base on the preferences of UK stakeholders around non-financial reporting (NFR). The research aimed to contribute to the Government’s objective of ensuring that the UK is strategically placed ‘at the leading edge of international developments in sustainability reporting’. The report described the global drivers for NFR but concluded that ‘the unsynchronised development [of mandatory regulations and numerous voluntary reporting initiatives covering NFR] have resulted in a complex reporting environment which is highly fragmented’.

Image: Eunomia for HM Gov

The report goes on to compare a selection of NFR frameworks, some of which are tools-based, others based on reporting standards and principles, some a mixture of both; some focused more on one or other parts of E (Environmental), S (Social) and G (Governance); some focused on investment communities and others on wider stakeholder groups; and so on. Within this landscape, both users (like investors) and preparers (like the emerging breed of Chief Sustainability Officers) can find the language surrounding NFR to be complex and often negative, with comparability of metrics and terminologies not fully enabled between the various frameworks. Normalised processes and lexicon – supported eventually by an internationally-agreed standard – will no doubt be the convergence point, but that seems yet to be some way off.

In the meantime, though, the wave of sustainability reporting is not subsiding, with commentators like EY finding renewed focus on sustainability post-Covid and investors continuing to drive sustainability disclosures. And, as we’ve heard more than once in our Green Edge conversations with various people in recent days, the ‘S’ factors around things like ethical supply chains, diversity and inclusion, and fair living wage are growing ever-more important within the overall ESG portfolio.

Image: TGE from Eunomia for HM Gov.

One question we do ask here, though, is what do smaller organisations make of all this? Where do they fit in and which way should they go? Well, the BEIS report states – somewhat blithely in our humble opinion – ‘SMEs mainly use B Corp for reporting’. That may be true – but only to a degree. We’ve written a fair bit about B Corp and its growing trend, but we’ve also been told of the effort it takes, the commitment needed and the resources required to get B Corp certification. Criticism from some parts (not us) may point to its onerousness, bureaucracy and elitism.

So, is there a middle ground between, on the one hand, the tricky, line-in-the-sand type of certification that judges whether your company can be part of its sustainability club and, on the other hand, the type of listed company, Sustainalytics style that doesn’t so much measure a company’s sustainability per se but is more about the impact on its markets? Alex Smith of Sustainability Group believes there is.

The Sustainability Group was founded in 2019 by Mike Penrose, an expert in risk, crisis and disaster management, and Alex Smith, a development and operations specialist with a background in commercial sport and hospitality. Their remit is ‘to help organisations around the globe to define their purpose, measure their positive impact and understand the value of doing so.’ Assisting companies in the implementation of sustainable, just, and profitable business practices is a key part of that work. The company works partly as a consultancy and partly – increasingly, since its launch in November 2021 – in the ongoing development and deployment of its online sustainability management tool, FuturePlus.

Whilst not targeted specifically towards companies of any particular size, Alex describes FuturePlus as having a sweet spot among smaller- and medium-sized firms: “Those companies that have a bit of growth behind them and are becoming more aware that they need to grow their ESG maturity, especially if they're going out for greater investment. Their supply chain and procurement is becoming more complex and they're being asked more things about their sustainability, their staff, recruitment, and retainment.

“There are a lot of companies like that and they are currently massively underserved”.

Through Zoom screenshare, Alex gives us a presales-type demo of the FuturePlus platform. The software design is clean and dashboard-driven and Alex tells us that a client’s first cycle of operation of the system – which works as a corporate gap analysis, collecting data and evidence of what’s been done so far and encouraging ambition-setting for any gaps identified – is usually completed in something like 6 to 8 person-hours in the first month of subscription. The question-and-answer workflow was developed by consolidating over 4,500 indicators from the many sustainability frameworks out there, including those we mentioned earlier in the BEIS report. The result is between 200 and 300 questions, with branched responses, weighted scoring and a ‘help hub’ for each question giving pop-up access to a myriad of resources like third-party carbon calculator tools, corporate EV switching guides and templates for modern slavery statements.

Image: FuturePlus

Actionable plans and consolidated reports are key outputs of the FuturePlus system. Timescales for ambitions to reach stated goals are downloadable for use in project management tools and reports are configurable via point-and-click for different audiences. Alex tells us “you choose which sections you need, perhaps for investment board meetings or for sustainability credentials for procurement. People have used it for external sustainability reporting as well as a framework for wider impact reporting”.

The team is being kept busy with new subscriptions coming in at a healthy rate. FuturePlus now has about 150 corporate clients and this in turn is leading to an increasing number of asks for consulting support in areas where clients find they need help. Importantly, data is building in the system, which the team is looking forward to using in anonymised form for analysing and benchmarking across industries, sectors and geographies. An impact report, published on the system’s first anniversary in November 2022, shows FuturePlus has been implemented across a wide range of sectors, from hospitality to ICT to manufacturing and beyond.

We ask about skills; since FuturePlus is asking questions of organisation-level capacities and capabilities, this must come up regularly. Alex confirms: “A lot of clients feel that they don't have the skills, and training becomes a big part of it. Carbon and environmental data capture and the skills around that are probably the ones that are most in demand because it is deemed to be the most complex. It's arguably easy because it’s about numbers and we've all agreed the formulas. But it's the one thing that people feel the most uncomfortable about, particularly when they're expanding out of scope one and two and don’t even understand what that means, let alone what they’re trying to move towards.

“So we do find the skills requirement is a big one and people want to build that into their teams. Also we encourage it and [in FuturePlus] have questions that are directly relevant to increasing the skill sets of employees, customers and supply chains”.

Our thanks to Alex Smith of Sustainability Group for her time in talking to The Green Edge. Whilst we stress independence and do not consider it in our remit to endorse companies or products, we would recommend any organisation seeking to assess or improve its sustainability credentials in a pragmatic way to at least take a look at FuturePlus. It may be the tool you’re looking for right now.