WEF’s ESG framework is now part of DiginexESG
This week is the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Sustainable Development Impact Summit - where leaders across sectors will share new technologies, create innovative policy recommendations, and advance partnerships towards achieving the world’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Our founder and chairman, Miles Pelham is at the Summit, keenly following panels such as
Greening the economic recovery, Shaping a Responsible Data Ecosystem and Putting the ‘S’ in ESG
Collaborating and developing methods to reduce the negative impact that nations have on the environment is the very core of Diginex’s values. To this end, we have incorporated WEF’s ESG Multi-stakeholder Framework into DiginexESG for companies to use when creating their sustainability reports.
The WEF framework provides the detail needed for businesses to showcase their ESG efforts to customers, regulators and investors. The framework was developed in collaboration with Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC and some of the biggest companies in the world have signed up to use WEF as base for ESG reporting.
The WEF Multi-stakeholder Framework is arranged into four pillars: Principles of Governance, Planet, People and Prosperity.
● Principles of Governance refers to various elements related to the organisation’s effectiveness at defining its governing purpose, the quality of its governing body and ethical behaviour.
● Planet discusses the business’ sustainability efforts and impact on the environment.
● People includes diversity and inclusion issues, health, wellbeing as well as upskilling staff.
● Prosperity requires the business to cover off its wealth creation and employment, improving products and building a community.
Many businesses are excited to leverage this framework. However, while larger companies may be comfortable adopting a new framework by a well-established organisation, smaller businesses may struggle to know where to start and what topics to report on.
That is one of the core principles that underpinned our development of DiginexESG. Using this platform, businesses will be able to choose their preferred framework, or have one recommended to them, to produce their sustainability reports – in some cases, for the very first time.
DiginexESG is a blockchain enabled reporting platform which allows companies to realise the commercial and reputational benefits of ESG such as greater bottom-line efficiency, improved consumer trust, reduced corporate risk, and increased ability to attract and secure capital from investors.
The WEF Multi-stakeholder framework joins other guidelines on the DiginexESG platform including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). Once a company has established the sustainability topics they wish to report on, WEF’s guidelines digitised in DiginexESG will provide the right foundation to execute an ESG report in a fast, easy and affordable manor.
While SMEs have not had to adhere to any mandatory frameworks, SASB, the GRI and now the WEF Multi-stakeholder Framework will enable businesses to measure and act on a range of issues - from carbon emissions to human rights, diversity and compliance that is still critical to future proof a company, regardless of size.
It’s worth remembering that the ESG data organisations produce is much more than numbers and reports – its value spans everything from de-risking investment opportunities, enabling SMEs to attract more capital and secure favourable lending terms, to creating business resilience and cementing brand loyalty.
With the addition of the WEF framework to our platform, companies will have a greater choice of standards to choose from and an ability to measure their ESG efforts in line with a leading, global standard that has already been adopted by multinationals throughout the world.
If you’re at the start of your ESG journey, or eager to learn more about how we can support your reporting, click here to get in touch.
