Biodiversity Disclosures for CSRD and Beyond

In 2022, 31% of companies had already endorsed biodiversity-related initiatives according to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), however, the majority is not translating these commitments into action. The need for businesses to understand and mitigate their impacts and dependencies upon nature is quickly increasing in importance as a result of the observed high pace of biodiversity loss and growing interest from diverse stakeholder groups. This article sheds lights on the emerging expectations of stakeholders, mainly investors, suppliers and regulatory bodies, by looking into the Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) from S&P Global, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), while presenting best practice examples and elaborating on the first key steps to be taken to respond to stakeholders’ interests and improve corporate disclosure and performance on biodiversity.

ESG Acceleration Webinar: CSA Expert Training Highlights

This webinar will provide a short summary of the key takeaways from Finch & Beak’s CSA Expert Training held on 2 March 2023, especially for those who haven’t been able to join live in Amsterdam. A key component to selecting companies for inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices are S&P Global ESG Scores, which are calculated based on the results of the CSA. Lim Adriaenssens, Senior ESG Benchmarking Specialist at S&P Global Sustainable1 will share more about the main challenges in the climate, supply chain & biodiversity section of S&P Global’s Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA), elaborate on the then-just-released CSA 2023 timeline & methodology changes while Finch & Beak’s Nikkie Vinke will provide practical examples and give ESG acceleration tips for how best to prepare for the CSA 2023.

Successfully Implementing TCFD: Climate Scenario Analysis

This second article of our series titled 'Successfully Implementing TCFD' provides tips on how to conduct climate scenario analyses, suggesting concrete steps organizations can take in aligning with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations. The scenario analysis is applied to the risks & opportunities identified as relevant for a company, as discussed in the first article of this series. This article explains how the financial impact of climate change can be determined in different scenarios and the accompanying download gives practical tips to assist your organization in overcoming three barriers that can prevent the successful implementation of TCFD.

How Swiss Organizations Can Leverage TCFD Beyond Reporting

On 31st January 2023, Finch and Beak delivered an ESG Acceleration Webinar to elaborate on how Swiss organizations can successfully implement and benefit from their TCFD-related efforts. During the session, Josephin Schulz, TCFD expert at Finch and Beak, and Peregrine Chard, Head of Risk at Ocado Group, outlined how organizations can use the TCFD as a strategic exercise to strengthen their climate-related activities while also sharing valuable hands-on examples and lessons learned. This article summarizes the webinar’s highlights while the download provides three ESG Acceleration Tips for leveraging TCFD.

Join the CSA Expert Training in Amsterdam

On Thursday, March 2nd 2023, we will deep-dive into the challenges of the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) during this exclusive in-person event. A key component to selecting companies for inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices are S&P Global ESG Scores, which are calculated based on the results of the CSA. The training focuses on sharing best practices on climate strategy, supply chain management, and biodiversity, and we'll look ahead at changes to the timeline and methodology changes for 2023. The event’s intimate setting also creates a great opportunity for exchanging with ESG practitioners at other top companies, and with our speakers from S&P Global Sustainable1, ASML, Corporate Citizenship and SLR Consulting.

ESG Acceleration Webinar: How Swiss Companies Can Leverage TCFD

As Switzerland has adopted an ordinance requiring mandatory climate disclosures based on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), Swiss companies are required to get up to speed on how to use TCFD to better understand climate risks and opportunities. In this webinar, Peregrine Chard, Head of Risk at Ocado Group shared some practical insights from their inspiring ESG strategy, and Finch & Beak’s TCFD expert Josephin Schulz made the case for why TCFD is beneficial, elaborated on the climate risk analysis process, and shared some best practice tips.

Responding to COP27’s Main Takeaways

The recent COP27 once again highlighted urgent topics that need global attention, results that were achieved (and unfortunately also those that were not), and provided enough challenges and considerations for organizations and countries to deliberate forthcoming change. A new agenda topic is that of loss and damage which unified countries in agreement about establishing a fund for assisting and supporting developing countries. In this article, we briefly elaborate on some of the main topics discussed, highlight takeaways of the event that are worth considering as part of an organization’s sustainability agenda, and specifically, consider how these challenges can be addressed through the activation of material ESG topics. The downloadable checklist for materiality activation is a helpful tool to support your organization in starting the process.

No Time to Waste, the Only Way is Forward

Although yielding many positive outcomes, unfortunately, this year’s COP27 proved that the clock speed with official negotiations is much slower than that by the actors of the real economy where the discussion is about speeding up the transformations and getting finances to flow. Different this year from previous conferences was that there is consensus that we can’t afford any other way than a way forward, towards 1.5°C. This article is a personal account by Peter Bakker, President and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) summarizing the key takeaways and elaborating on why collaboration and accountability are the way to get from commitment to action.

Successfully Implementing TCFD: Risk & Opportunity Analysis

This article is the first article in our series titled 'Successfully Implementing TCFD', explaining the different phases of Finch & Beak's Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Roadmap in more detail. This article focuses on the suggested phase of conducting a climate-related risk and opportunity assessment by sharing valuable insights on how to assess and understand climate-related risks and opportunities. The accompanying download provides practical tips to assist your organization in overcoming three barriers that can prevent the successful implementation of TCFD.

Activating Climate Change Management in the ICT Industry

With the expected growth of the Communication Services industry, concerns related to energy use, product sustainability, and CO2 emissions are expected to increase, too. For this reason, these issues naturally form part of the top priorities of materiality matrixes of organizations in the industry. Developing a climate strategy provides a great opportunity to activate materiality on these topics and ultimately, reduce companies’ impact on the environment. This article explains how organizations can improve their longevity and resilience by identifying and assessing climate risks and opportunities associated with their business and provides practical steps for developing a corporate climate strategy.