ESG Frameworks, All in One Place: ESG Explorer

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting is top-of-mind for leading organisations. So too is the understanding that it will add new complexity to annual, quarterly or even monthly reporting processes. Fielding diverse demands from investors and stakeholders, and with uncertainty surrounding the precise details of impending regulations and standards, it’s difficult for ESG leaders to tool themselves to make fully informed decisions.

To help out, several organisations have developed frameworks and standards that work together to ease comparable, consistent, and reliable disclosures in ESG reporting.  But knowing which framework, or frameworks, makes the most sense for your business isn’t always straightforward. Last year, during a panel discussion with Workiva at Reuters’ Sustainable Finance and Reporting Europe, one reporter shared how, “Organisations need a certain amount of agility to be able to pick through the frameworks rather than just think, ‘you go fill in all of this and then miraculously, you will be comparable’...because we know that just doesn't work. It doesn't produce the right material data.”

You need flexibility. You also need easy access to information about each framework and standard so you can make the best decisions to benefit your organisation. So we created ESG Explorer to help out. 

ESG Explorer is the tool that gives Workiva customers the ability to browse multiple frameworks and standards to identify the disclosures that matter—or are material—for ESG reporting in one location. It means that there’s no need to track down each framework's disclosures or juggle multiple PDFs and websites. And, to only view disclosures relevant to your ESG reporting, you can specify your organization's frameworks and industries from the ESG Admin panel. Full information about how it works can be found in this support article but, for a brief overview, read on. 

Browse and search frameworks

Here’s how it works. To identify material disclosures to your organisation's ESG reporting, browse and search frameworks and standards in ESG Explorer. Or, to browse all frameworks and standards, search by keyword—such as Water, Gender, or Climate—to view their relevant disclosures in the main panel. 

From the Frameworks  panel, you can browse disclosures and their reporting requirements—or metrics—of a specific framework or standard.

When you select a disclosure, its details appear in the main frame, including its description, metrics, and any related counterparts from other frameworks and standards. As you identify material disclosures and metrics, you can bookmark them to create a curated list for everyone in your workspace.

It’s that simple. And it will save you a lot of time. If you’re a Workiva customer, talk to your account manager today about ESG Explorer. And if you’re interested in learning more about how the Workiva platform powers transparent reporting, you can find out more about our ESG solution here. 

Take a break from reading about ESG reporting and join the discussion IRL at Amplify 2023, Sept. 19-21, in Nashville. 60+ sessions, 13 CPE credits, live entertainment, and inspiring keynotes from Indra Nooyi and Reese Witherspoon. Register now.