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)
- Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
- Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
- Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
- United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG)
Select content to include
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.
GRI
TCFD
UNSDGCDP 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.
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.
- Select whether to use the 2020 or 2021 version of the Standards.
Tip: To use Sector Standards such as GRI 11: Oil and Gas Sector 2021 or GRI 12: Coal Sector 2022, select the 2021 version.
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.