Responsible Business Assessment

Acclaro offers Responsible Business Assessments as a way of benchmarking maturity on Environmental, Social and Governance issues, providing a comprehensive review of both the subject organisation and selected peers. This can either be carried out using our own Responsible Business Framework, but we can also evaluate alignment to global reporting standards such as the GRI, or alternatively to the client’s own ESG goals and targets. This helps to highlight unmanaged risks and identify opportunities for improvement. 

Our Responsible Business Framework

Acclaro’s Responsible Business Framework is modelled on our highly successful Sustainable Facilities Management Index (SFMI) which has been driving improved sustainability standards in the FM sector over the past decade. The Responsible Business Assessment takes a sector-agnostic approach applicable to any organisation whether private, public or charity sector. A total of 24 criteria are considered, spread across the ESG spectrum, initially through a desktop assessment that considers public domain disclosure and then through meetings with the owners of different impact owners to thoroughly examine policy and process and identify gaps and unmanaged risks. The resulting report highlights both areas of good practice and opportunities for improvement. 

By including peers in the desktop assessment stage an organisation can see how it compares in terms of public disclosure and get a sense of the level of ambition of key competitors that can help define how it wants to position itself in its market. The subsequent deep dive into policy, process and practice through interviews with a wide range of internal stakeholders can highlight areas where action is insufficient to secure delivery of publicly-stated goals. This robust and integrated approach means that a Responsible Business Assessment can provide a solid foundation for the development of a new or updated ESG strategy with the best chance of operational alignment to ensure success.

Assessment against public frameworks

Public frameworks such as the GRI provide a consistent methodology for disclosure in ESG topics, supporting improved transparency and helping to bolster ambition. However, it relies wholly on public disclosure with no integral methodology for ensuring that claims and targets are backed up by verifiable data and robust systems and process to support achievement. A Responsible Business Assessment can highlight delivery gaps and identify greenwashing risks before these become a threat to reputation. 

Assessment against own goals and targets

Achievement of goals and targets depends on the appropriate systems and processes to be set up to ensure that they can be delivered. This requires a degree of change management that can be challenging alongside the organisation’s other priorities. The danger is that any delivery gaps won’t be identified in time for the trajectory to be altered, leading to targets being missed. A Responsible Business Assessment analyses both quantitative and qualitative data to determine whether the organisation is on track to achieve its ESG targets and, if not, what the root cause might be. The outcome is a set of recommendations to ensure that policy, process and practice are all consistent with the organisations targets, to provide the best possible chance of success.