It seems you can’t open a newspaper or read an industry publication without seeing the letters ESG – and that’s not a bad thing.
As the construction industry, real-estate in general, and all the associated investors, insurers and regulatory agencies all delve into Environmental, Social and Governance metrics, ESG is looking to become the new safety. ESG tracking will be the new hardhat and safety goggles – standard practices.
In speaking with a number of construction industry professionals, I don’t hear a lot of pushback – this industry is great at execution – tell us what to do and we’ll get it done. The big question that comes back is typically – will do – what exactly do you want me to track?
ESG can be overwhelming – there are hundreds if not thousands of datapoints that can be looked at. Many that apply to one industry aren’t relevant for a different industry. Paralysis by analysis becomes the real issue. Without clear direction where to start, why bother at all?
And that’s not good for anyone. That’s why I’m so excited about Green Badger’s upcoming release – the Green Badger ESG Implementation Guide. Yeah, we’ve got an awesome software platform that will calculate your carbon, demonstrate your workforce diversity, and help ensure your jobsites get the same wellness benefits that the office teams get. But that’s not what I’m talking about. Before you can even start benchmarking ESG, you’ve got to have a plan in place of which metrics you want to track, what datapoints will be required, and how you’re going to get the information. With the aforementioned hundreds of options this in of itself can be a challenge!
But Green Badger’s here to help and I’m giving you a sneak peak. Next month we’re revealing our FREE ESG Implementation Guide that will provide a roadmap towards a successful ESG implementation process. This is not one size fits all. It will look different for a 50 person company than a 5,000 person company – and that’s perfectly fine. Unlike LEED, there’s no score at the end (for better or for worse). Successful ESG implementation is an evolving journey – there’s not a fixed endpoint.
Our guide will help break down actionable items construction companies can take starting with low-hanging fruit of items that are 100% controlled and managed by an organization before moving onto more challenging endeavors that we can perhaps only influence rather than dictate – but still falls within our ESG scope. We’ll offer a host of metrics in each category, to provide opportunities to pick and choose measures that are important, relevant and meaningful to your organization, with suggestions on what you’ll need and where to start.
Will this guide be the most comprehensive thing out there? No way – and I don’t want it to be. Will it be a starting point that any firm can use without having to hire a bunch of expensive ESG consultants? You bet it will. So I invite you to stay tuned and follow along and as always, provide feedback once it is available so we can advance on our continuous improvement journey.
