Best communication of ESG

IR Principles

Please note that for all awards categories, companies need to emphasise how they have successfully addressed the following IR principles:

• Having an equity story and investment case that are clearly communicated across all stakeholders and deliver long-term value creation
• Helping investors, analysts and others to understand the growth and value drivers of a company, such that there is a fair and orderly market in its shares
• Meeting or exceeding all regulatory requirements around disclosure and focusing on greater transparency of information both internally and externally

Award Description

For this award we are looking for evidence a of year-round communication approach to investors and wider stakeholders. It should provide insight into how environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities are identified, understood and proactively managed and measured to contribute to a business’ competitive advantage, as well as having a positive impact on the employees, associated communities and operational partners.

We recognise that this is a developing area for many companies and each will be at different stages of their journey. We would like to see businesses demonstrate that their internal approaches are changing and that the ownership of the ESG communication does not just rest with one department or team. But that a cross section of departments works together to deliver a consistent and holistic communication approach to ESG.

Businesses are expected to adopt a more thoughtful approach to wider value and evidence mounts for the importance of governance and overall stewardship to investors. There is increasing focus from all stakeholders on climate change and social issues, and the steps companies are taking to address these issues. We believe that a real opportunity exists for companies to be proactive in setting out their long-term strategies against relevant reporting frameworks and through including ESG issues when engaging with the investment community, and we encourage companies to move in this direction.

Overall, judges will be looking for evidence of a clearly defined approach, with a consistent and proactive point of view on material ESG issues and long-term value creation across all communications with investors.

Some of the relevant ESG elements could cover but are not limited to:

Environment

• Climate change,
• water,
• waste
• reporting against TCFD or similar

Social

• UN SDGs;
• safety;
• social impact;
• diversity and gender pay gap;
• supply chain;
• access to work (graduates, etc.)

Governance

• Corporate social responsibility;
• reporting guidelines (UK Corporate Governance Code; FRC initiatives, etc.);
• succession planning,
• executive remuneration linked to non-financial KPIs