As the global emphasis on ESG, sustainability and corporate responsibility continues to escalate, organisations recognise that reporting on ESG is one thing – but building programmes that generate the data they need to report is another.  

ESG reporting goes beyond numbers 

Companies are realising that ESG reporting is about 30% numbers and 70% words. It is not just about reporting a statistic or a number that equates to an ESG data point, but it is the words that explain your programme for that issue: how you are tackling it, what initiatives you are driving, how those initiatives are being executed across the business, your goals, your objectives, and how you are monitoring and measuring. 

Take for example two key elements of the ‘S’ in ESG: modern-day slavery (MDS) and a safe workplace. Most ESG software will help you report statistics like ‘number of accidents this year’, ‘male/female staffing and management ratios’, or perhaps ‘how many suppliers have been assessed for MDS risks’. 

However, that is where ESG reporting starts; it is not where it ends. ESG reporting also expects you to report on matters like: 

• your overall plan for reducing MDS across the organisation 
• where you have identified MDS in your business 
• what stakeholders you have engaged as part of building your programme to combat these risks 
• who in the business is responsible for these issues and who is part of the team to manage these risks 
• what steps you are taking to reduce the MDS risks and how those risks are being reviewed, monitored and measured 
• what the goals, objectives and targets for those initiatives are, and who is responsible for achieving them.

These are just a few examples of what needs to be designed, implemented and documented as part of a comprehensive ESG strategy that will need to be reported on. 

Simplifying ESG programme implementation with Speeki’s generative AI integration 

While this might sound like a lot of work, especially against over 20 key areas as part of an ESG programme (see our Speeki ESG model below), Speeki has made it easier to implement these programmes as part of your Speeki Platform with the significant contribution of generative AI.

Introducing Speeki’s AI assistant, Nicole

Speeki is pleased to announce that the latest version of the Speeki Platform, released in December 2023, includes our AI assistant, ‘Nicole’. Nicole is our AI-driven ESG officer who can guide you through building your programmes.  

Nicole is focused on reducing the time that you need to build your programmes and populate your ESG Profile within the Speeki Platform. Nicole can improve your answers to key questions about your programmes, or generate new answers for you to review, amend and approve.

RELATED ARTICLE: Speeki ESG platform releases innovative reporting features for ESRS, other standards

Speeki is more than just a software company

‘At Speeki, our approach to developing our Speeki ESG Platform is simple: we want to be more than just a software company that provides workflows and task lists around ESG actions – we want to be the trusted advisor in building, implementing, maintaining and reporting on ESG and sustainability across your organisation,’ says Scott Lane, CEO and Founder of Speeki and an active leader in the ESG risk areas for over 25 years. 

With his extensive background as a lawyer and technologist, Scott has trained tens of thousands of people worldwide in meetings, conferences, online learning and webinars, cementing his position as a stalwart trainer in the ESG, assurance, governance, social, anti-corruption and compliance areas. That knowledge is now embedded in the Speeki Platform and improved by the technological advances of AI. 

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