From ESG Explorer , you can browse content from multiple frameworks, standards, and questionnaires to identify material disclosures for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting:
- CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project)
- S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA)
- European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS)
- Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
- Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
- Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
- United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG)
To browse only relevant guidance, you can select the content applicable to your organization's ESG reporting from the ESG Admin panel.
Tip: Your organization may need multiple frameworks and standards to report its ESG disclosures. For example, since TCFD focuses on environmental issues, you may use additional frameworks for social and governance disclosures.
CDP is a nonprofit organization that uses responses to its annual questionnaires to score companies based on their environmental transparency and action. These scores help:
- Inform investor decisions
- Provide benchmarks to compare to peers
- Ensure strategies align with current best practices
To use CDP content in ESG Explorer, select which questionnaires to include — Climate change, Forests, or Water security — from the ESG Admin panel.
When you include a questionnaire in ESG Explorer, you can review its questions and connect them to ESG Program metrics as you prepare to respond to CDP.
S&P Global CSA is an annual evaluation of companies' sustainability practices. With CSA, you can benchmark your company's performance on industry-specific economic, environmental, and social criteria. It also enables you to leverage the expertise, methodology, and database underlying the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for your own internal processes and external communication.
To view CSA questions in ESG Explorer, select CSA from the ESG Admin panel.
Note: ESG Explorer only represents the questions, which you submit through the CSA portal.
To capture responses to submit to CSA:
- From ESG Explorer, add comments to CSA questions to capture discussions with collaborators.
- From the ESG Program, connect metrics with CSA questions they align with, and collect responses as metric values.
The ESRS help companies in the European Union (EU) — including EU-based subsidiaries of companies in the United States — comply with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). To enable accurate, consistent, and comparable ESG reporting, the ESRS currently provide:
- Cross-cutting standards with general requirements and disclosures that apply to all industries and sectors
- Topical standards with requirements and disclosures for specific ESG factors
Tip: For more information about the ESRS, refer to the European Commission's Q&A.
To view the ESRS in ESG Explorer, select ESRS from the ESG Admin panel.
Note: This version of the ESRS is currently under scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council, and will come into force when published in the EU's Official Journal. If approved, the delegated act would apply starting January 2024, to undertakings already subject to the non-financial reporting requirements of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD); for other undertakings, its application will be phased in.
To collect values to disclose for the ESRS, connect ESG Program metrics to the Standards they align with.
Note: ESG Explorer provides only the text of the ESRS. For the tables prescribed by application requirements to disclose datapoints, download the ESRS as a PDF from ESG Explorer.
GRI is an independent, international organization that helps businesses and other organizations take responsibility for their impacts. To help organizations communicate their impacts, GRI provides a global common language through:
- Universal Standards — such as GRI 1: Foundation 2021, GRI 2: General disclosures 2021, and GRI 3: Material topics 2021 — used by every organization
- Industry-specific Sector Standards, such as GRI 11: Oil and Gas Sector 2021 or GRI 12: Coal Sector 2022
- Additional Topic Standards — such as GRI 200: Economic topics, GRI 300: Environmental topics, and GRI 400: Social topics — to prepare reports for specific purposes or audiences such as for investors or stakeholders
To use GRI Standards in ESG Explorer:
- From the ESG Admin panel, select GRI in Content.
- In GRI Sectors, select which Sector Standards to include in ESG Explorer.
Tip: To not include GRI Sector Standards, select No Sectors.
SASB developed standards—maintained by the Value Reporting Foundation—to help companies disclose material sustainability information to their investors by identifying the disclosures most likely to impact the financial performance of many industries. These standards:
- Are industry-specific, as disclosures' impact on industries' financial performance varies
- Highlight disclosures that help investors make informed decisions
- Are cost-effective for companies to use
- Use an evidence-based and market-informed process like that used to develop standards for financial accounting
To use SASB content in ESG Explorer:
- From the ESG Admin panel, select SASB in Content.
- Select which industries apply to your organization's ESG reporting.
TCFD is an organization established in 2015 to develop consistent, voluntary, climate-related financial risk disclosures for corporate filings. Per TCFD guidance, effective disclosures:
- Include relevant information, with no irrelevant or redundant details
- Provide specific and complete, with a thorough overview of your organization's exposure to potential climate-related impacts
- Are clear, balanced, and understandable as it communicates financial information that serves the needs of a range of financial stakeholders
- Maintain consistency over time to convey the development or evolution of your organization's impact on climate-related issues
- Enable meaningful comparison among other organizations within your same sector, industry, or portfolio
- Provide reliable, verifiable, and objective information, free from bias
- Are delivered or updated in a timely manner—at least annually within mainstream financial reporting
To use TCFD content in ESG Explorer, select TCFD from the ESG Admin panel.
The UNSDG enable cities, NGOs, philanthropies, and individuals to place worldwide goals in the same framework to better share ideas and best practices:
- No poverty
- Zero hunger
- Good health and well-being
- Quality education
- Gender equality
- Clean water and sanitation
- Affordable and clean energy
- Decent work and economic growth
- Industry, innovation, and infrastructure
- Reduced inequalities
- Sustainable cities and communities
- Responsible consumption and production
- Climate action
- Life below water and on land
- Peace, justice, and strong institutions
- Partnerships for the Goals
To use UNSDG content in ESG Explorer, select UNSDG from the ESG Admin panel.