Scotland is leading way on supply chain ESG
Increasingly, ESG performance is enhancing, or eroding, a company’s value, reputation and relationship with its clients. Over the next few years, we’re likely to see new regulations requiring companies to observe ESG standards across their supply chain.
In order to assess how UK companies are reporting on the full ESG value chain of their operations, we surveyed over 360 business leaders from across differing sectors and regions. It is clear that many companies still have some way to go. Leading the way however is Scotland.
Highlighting Scotland as the UK nation that is most prepared, our report goes on to explain that it is factors such as the size of the energy sector that is driving this upward trend. Indeed, Scotland’s traditional oil and gas sector has demonstrated a commitment to environmental protection, energy transition and Net Zero strategies. Other large sectors such as financial services are also influenced by the shifting priorities of investors towards ESG .
Through the conversations we’ve had with clients based in Scotland, we’ve noticed that much of the ESG focus has always been on the environment, but there’s certainly much more focus on social and governance now and we think that has been driven by internal stakeholders. The other thing that clients are recognising is that it is no longer just about what they do themselves; it is also about making sure that their supply chain is doing the same thing.
However, the findings show that organisations in Scotland still have work to do to be certain that they will achieve compliance with ESG legislation and regulations. In fact, our data highlights that businesses in Scotland would benefit from improving their procedures for assessing ESG compliance.
Efforts could also be made to improve organisations’ understanding of the legislative and regulatory ESG risks their supply chain may give rise to. Companies could also boost their chances of achieving ESG compliance by setting up a dedicated team that deals with Esg-related matters.
At Burges Salmon we have developed a number of practical tools to consolidate all ESG guidance, legislation and other useful resources into interactive and intuitive platforms. Amongst those is our ESG Corporate Disclosure Tool, where clients can seamlessly navigate between the law, ESG disclosure obligations, best practice and training guidance, to help them identify potential risks and unlock opportunities so they can derive real value from it.