Forbes estimates that organisations can save up to $4 million annually through automating simple processes with software. It has also been proven time and time again that investing in ESG saves you money. But why is this, and how can you apply this to your ESG reporting?

Why Does An ESG Software Save You Money?

There are 5 main ways an ESG Reporting Software will save you time and money.

1. Automates Tasks:

With ESG reporting software, manual updates, push notifications and more can all be automated. This ensures that you can focus on the larger tasks and not waste time chasing emails and other menial tasks. Convene ESG will automate all this for you. 

2. Streamlines Data Collections:

With report writing software, you can easily bulk import multiple spreadsheets for ease of use. This means you can save hours of manual time. One of our clients predicted that they had saved at least 6 months worth of time just formatting and keeping up with spreadsheets. 

You can also assign roles to those responsible for different departments that fall under your ESG requirements. For example, if you have to report on your supply chain, your Head of Resources would be the one collecting and inputting the data for that section. This can also help grow and embed ESG into the culture of your organisation.

3. Produce Multiple Reports From One Data Entry:

Data collections for a single report can be timely, if you want to produce reports for multiple frameworks or frequently, you may find you have to fill in the same data on every spreadsheet. An ESG Report Writing Software can automatically do this for you. 

For example, you have inputted the data for your EPC ratings for your SRS report, but you also need it for your TCFD report. The software will be able to take your EPC rating from your SRS report and input it for your TCFD report, without you even having to lift a finger. 

4. Pre-Formatted For ESG Frameworks:

Gone are the days in which you have to update your spreadsheets for every new version of a framework. With a report writing software, it is the provider’s responsibility to keep up to date with the changes, and yours to input the correct data. Convene ESG will ensure that every time a standard updates, so do our data collection forms. 

5. Creates an Auditable Trail:

A major governance and ESG risk when starting any project is auditability. We predict that in the next few years all ESG reports will have to be auditable, by investing in ESG software now you will save yourself money in the long-run. 

Furthermore, creating an auditable ESG report will likely enable you faster access to more ESG funding opportunities. As we have discussed in other articles, younger investors are more likely to want to support organisations with strong ESG ratings and good values. 

How To Use An ESG Software In Your Reports?

We have produced this helpful step-by-step guide on how simple an ESG Reporting Software is to use.

Step 1: Select Your ESG Framework

With Convene ESG, you can select multiple frameworks to disclose against. This includes, but is not limited to:

• The Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing
• TCFD
• GRI
• Ritterwald
• GRESB
• CSRD

Once you have selected which framework you want to start using, you can select which criteria you want to report against, and then a data collection form will be made available to you. 

Step 2: Input your ESG Data

Import your data as Excel Spreadsheets and update any criteria by simply entering a new spreadsheet, so you can always know that your reports are as up-to-date as possible. You can even assign sections of the form to certain people, so then your report can be as collaborative as possible, helping you to ingrain ESG practices within your organisation.

Step 3: Compare Your ESG Journey With Peers

Benchmarking is a component of ESG reporting that is often overlooked. It is important to know where you are in relation to not only your competitors, but also your sector. This can help you assess your targets on a yearly or quarterly basis. With Convene ESG, all you have to do is select which organisation you would like to benchmark against and we will gather the information from their public reports to compare your metrics against theirs. 

Step 4: Publish Report

With a click of a button you can export your report in the format of a Word Document, Excel Spreadsheet, PowerPoint or PDF. This can be used as is, for example an Excel spreadsheet is the preferred form for the SRS, or you can enhance it with your own graphic design skills. 

How ESG Reporting Software Can Be Helpful For Housing Associations?

ESG in housing can be difficult to keep up with. You have very specific ESG factors that other sectors may not think to consider. This is why the Sustainability Reporting Standard came up with 48 criteria to help improve the ESG performance of the Sector. 

An ESG Report can help you access sustainable investment and ESG funds. We have an article on how an ESG Report can help you do this here.

Why Choose Convene ESG?

Convene, working with our vast number of Housing Industry clients, has developed a new software tool, Convene ESG to help you produce the best ESG reports possible. By simplifying and automating much of the process, you can be sure that your ESG report building runs smoothly, so you can focus on developing your sustainable strategies. 

With Convene ESG, you can develop a collaborative workflow, assigning certain sections of the report to the required people. Once all the sections are filled in, Convene ESG will produce a formatted Word Document or spreadsheet ready for you to publish! 

Convene ESG also has a built-in comparison feature, which allows you to compare against competitors' formatting of their publicly accessible reports, and their results! We already have the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing (SRS), Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), Global Reporting Initiative on Environmental Social and Governance Disclosures (GRI) amongst other frameworks already built-in with more to come. 

As a software provider already trusted by 100s of housing organisations, including Orbit Housing, you can trust us to provide you with a dedicated service.

If you’d like to learn more, you can read about our early adopters here, or contact us for a free demo. Also, keep an eye on our LinkedIn as we will be scheduling more free webinars soon!