acQuire Connected episode 36: Implementing the ‘S’ in ESG

The ‘S’ in ESG, representing Social, is a crucial yet often challenging component to define and measure within Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks.

Social impact focuses on the inclusion and capacity building of communities. This presents an opportunity for companies to foster socioeconomic participation and build relationships with these communities, government and institutions. What social impact looks like though, and the regulatory requirements for this, are different in every country, presenting challenges unique to every country.

In our latest acQuire Connected podcast episode, Loyiso Ndlovu, Head of Sustainability and ESG at Sibanye Stillwater, says, “social inclusion is a necessity in every single jurisdiction that you work in because there is a need to be as inclusive as possible in how you build your business, if you’re talking about a business that’s going to be there for the long term.

“When you have a weak social fabric in any society, it doesn’t matter where you are, the consequences are the same globally. Social instability occurs when no investment has been made in building a quality of life for people in the way that they want it, and it shows up in the exact same way globally.

“The responsibilities we have for social inclusion and to what extent companies must be considering social should be part and parcel of their day-to-day operations – it’s no longer a nice to have.”

So, how can companies define and measure their social impact?

The answer lays in the quality of their data management and the transparency of their reporting.

Social performance data is often dispersed across various systems, operations, and even different companies, leading to fragmented data that is hard to frame, report on, and develop strategies around.

In the podcast episode, Maritha Erasmus, Social Intelligence Value Stream at acQuire, identifies four key data management challenges that companies are facing globally:

• Aggregating data from multiple sources and systems
• Organising data in a format that is useful for reporting and decision-making
• Validating data to ensure accuracy and access to detailed underlying data
• Accessibility of data so that companies can make strategic and timely decisions, year round

Companies are beginning to recognise these challenges and are now improving their frameworks to manage and report on their social impact more effectively.

Listen to full episode of acQuire Connected to hear Loyiso Ndlovu and Maritha Erasmus explore:

• how companies are defining and measuring the ‘S’ in ESG
• what key challenges all companies face when reporting on their social impact, and
• where they see the future state of social impact reporting heading.

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