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Use Factbook as source for ESG reports

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Your Workiva ESG solution includes a Factbook spreadsheet, customized for your organization's reporting needs. The Factbook spreadsheet curates values collected through ESG Program metrics to enable source links for your environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting outputs.

Note: This article presents an example Factbook spreadsheet to represent supported framework disclosures and the flow of ESG Program values from incoming connections to reporting outputs. Your Factbook may differ, as Workiva customized it to meet your needs during implementation.

This spreadsheet includes these core sections:

  • Dates, where you track your reporting years
    Tip: To update the Dates section, edit the 5 year rolling cells of your Data collection spreadsheet's Dates section.
  • Source, which stores the raw data from your ESG Program metrics
  • Framework indices, where you specify the ESG disclosures that your reporting aligns with, for index generation and gap analysis
  • Performance tables, from where you can link values to your reporting outputs

Get latest values from ESG Program

To update the Factbook spreadsheet's Source section with the latest values from your ESG Program metrics, refresh the Data output and Metric data incoming connections from the Connections panel:

Note: To refresh an incoming connection, you need Editor or Owner permission to its sheet, and at least Viewer permission to its source query.
  1. From Incoming , select the incoming connection.
    esg-factbook_01.png
  2. In Parameters, select the range of the values to refresh, and click Apply & Refresh:
    • For Data output, select the values' start and end reporting years.
    • For Metric data, select the values' reporting year.
    Tip: To refresh the values again for the same reporting period, click Refresh for the incoming connection.

To update a framework in the Framework indices section with the latest values, refresh its incoming connection — such as SASB analysis — after you update the Source section.

Align with ESG disclosures

The Factbook spreadsheet can align with multiple ESG frameworks and standards, based on your organization's implementation:

  • Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
  • Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
  • Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
  • United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG)
  • S&P Global's Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA)
  • CDP, formerly Carbon Disclosure Project

From the Framework indices section, you can specify the disclosures your ESG reporting aligns with, such as to:

  • View how many ESG Program metrics align with each disclosure.
  • Identify gaps in your data collection.
  • Create source links to indices, to help stakeholders navigate your ESG reporting.

To align with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards:

  1. From ESG Explorer, select to include GRI Standards — including any Sector Standards that apply to your organization — from the ESG Admin panel.
  2. From ESG Program, align metrics with their related GRI Standards.
  3. From the Connections panel of the Factbook spreadsheet, click Refresh for the GRI analysis incoming connection to update the GRI index sheet with the metrics that align with GRI.
  4. In the GRI index sheet, review your alignment with each disclosure: 
    esg-factbook_03.png
    • In Count, view how many metrics align with the disclosure.
      Tip: A disclosure with a Count of zero (0) indicates a gap, with no metrics aligned. If you select to report the disclosure, add an ESG Program metric to enable and track its data collection.
    • In Report, select whether to disclosure the disclosure in your ESG reporting. If No, enter an explanation why in Reason for omission.  
  5. To refer to a disclosure in your report's index, create a source link from its Disclosure or Description cell in the GRI index sheet to your output file.

To align with Sustainability Accounting Standards Boards (SASB):

  1. From the ESG Admin panel of ESG Explorer, select to include SASB Standards, and select the SASB industries that apply to your organization.
  2. From ESG Program, align metrics with their related SASB Standards.
  3. From the Factbook spreadsheet, in the Select SASB industry sheet, select Y in the Disclose column for the same industries selected from the ESG Admin panel of ESG Explorer.
    esg-factbook_05.png
  4. From the Connections panel, click Refresh for the SASB analysis incoming connection to update the SASB index sheet with the metrics that align with SASB.
    Tip: To identify gaps, review the SASB analysis section for Standards without any metrics aligned.
  5. In the SASB analysis sheet, view which metrics align with each Standard.
    esg-factbook_08.png
    Tip: A Standard with no metric aligned indicates a gap. To report on the Standard, add an ESG Program metric to enable and track its data collection.
  6. In the SASB index sheet, add any notes about the disclosures.
  7. To refer to a disclosure in your report's index, create a source link from its Disclosure or Description cell in the SASB index sheet to your output file.

To align with Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD):

  1. From ESG Explorer, select to include TCFD content from the ESG Admin panel.
  2. From ESG Program, align metrics with their related TCFD content.
  3. From the Factbook spreadsheet, in the TCFD questionnaire sheet, collect responses of how your organization supports each pillar of TCFD — Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, and Metrics and targets.
    factbook-tcfd-questionnaire.png
  4. From the Connections panel, click Refresh for the TCFD analysis incoming connection to update the TCFD index sheet with the metrics that align with TCFD.
  5. To refer to a response or disclosure in your report or its index, create a source link from its cell in the TCFD index sheet to your output file.
    factbook-tcfd-index.png

To align with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG):

  1. From ESG Explorer, select to include UNSDG content from the ESG Admin panel.
  2. From ESG Program, align metrics with their related UNSDG content.
  3. From the Factbook spreadsheet, in the UNSDG Choose goals sheet, select whether to disclose each goal.
    esg-factbook_06.png
  4. From the Connections panel, click Refresh for the UNSDG analysis incoming connection to update the UNSDG index sheet with the metrics that align with UNSDG.
  5. In the UNSDG analysis sheet, view which metrics align with each goal, target, or indicator.
    esg-factbook_11.png
    Tip: A disclosure with no metric aligned indicates a gap. To report on the disclosure, add an ESG Program metric to enable and track its data collection.
  6. In the Index sheet, add any notes about the disclosures.
  7. To refer to a disclosure in your report's index, create a source link from its Disclosure or Description cell in the Index sheet to your output file.

To align with S&P Global's Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA):

  1. From ESG Explorer, select to include CSA content from the ESG Admin panel.
  2. From ESG Program, align metrics with their related CSA content.
  3. From the Connections panel of the Factbook spreadsheet, click Refresh for the CSA analysis incoming connection to update its sheet with the metrics that align with CSA.
  4. In the CSA analysis sheet, view which metrics align with each disclosure.
    factbook-csa-analysis.png
    Tip: A disclosure with no metric aligned indicates a gap. To report on the disclosure, add an ESG Program metric to enable and track its data collection.
Note: The CDP section of the Factbook spreadsheet supports the CDP 2023 questionnaires, for which the submission window has closed. Stay tuned for how to use Workiva for CDP 2024 submissions!

To align with CDP 2023 questionnaires:

  1. From ESG Explorer, select the CDP 2023 questionnaires — Climate, Forests, or Water — to include from the ESG Admin panel.
  2. From ESG Program, align metrics with their related CDP content.
  3. From the Connections panel of the Factbook spreadsheet, click Refresh for the questionnaires' incoming connections to update their respective sheets with the metrics that align with their content.
  4. In the CDP analysis sheets, view which metrics align with each questionnaires' disclosures.
    factbook-cdp-analysis.png
    Tip: A disclosure with no metric aligned indicates a gap. To report on the disclosure, add an ESG Program metric to enable and track its data collection.
  5. To refer to a disclosure in your 2023 submission, create a source link from its Response cell to the imported CDP questionnaire in Spreadsheets.

Link values to ESG reporting outputs

The Factbook spreadsheet can act as the source of truth for your ESG disclosures. To ensure a value's accurate and consistent reporting, create a source link from its cell in the Performance tables section to your ESG report's file.

Tip: To update a source link's destination files with any changes to its value, click Publish from the Factbook spreadsheet's toolbar.

To disclose custom values not already included in the Performance tables section:

  1. Add a new sheet to the Factbook spreadsheet to contain the custom values.
  2. From the Connections panel, add incoming connections from the values' sources — such as a query or another spreadsheet.
  3. Create source links from the values to their reporting outputs.
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Your Workiva ESG solution includes a Factbook spreadsheet, customized for your organization's reporting needs. The Fa...