Our director Luke Cross was delighted to speak at the Irish Council for Social Housing conference in October on environmental, social and governance (ESG) in housing.
Luke joined an esteemed panel that included Sharon Cosgrove, chief executive, Oaklee Housing, Brenna O’Roarty, executive director, RHL Strategic Solutions, John Hannigan, chief executive, Circle VHA and Niamh Randall, head of advocacy and communications, Respond, for a session entitled: Social value creation, ESG and institutional investment: issues and application in housing
Luke’s presentation focused on the evolution of ESG in UK housing – and particularly the progress of the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing – with key messages that resonate for anyone in ESG, whatever your sector.
This included the central message about the importance of having a really clear definition of what ESG means to your business, and what it is there to do (see slide).
There were also these following takeaways for businesses on their ESG journey:
- Set out your ESG objectives & priorities
- Know your audience – investors, wider stakeholder groups
- Get the right people around the table
- Design a process: ESG is all year round, not just an annual report
- Embrace a standard/framework: what’s material to you?
- Keep it evidence-based – credible, measurable
- Be transparent & accountable
- Don’t be afraid to say ‘ESG is a work in progress’
- Engage your stakeholders
- Look to the future – commitments/progress
- Tell your own story
See Luke’s presentation to the ICSH conference here.
Plus the presentations from all other speakers here.
If you’d like to discuss any of these topics or see how Social can help, please contact invest@social.co.uk