ASX Companies increasingly adopting this practical ESG standard

At the start of 2021, the first six ASX-listed companies began improving their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) credentials and reporting their progress against the World Economic Forum’s 21 universal ESG metrics, using “ESG on-ramp” technology platform Socialsuite.

After committing to Socialsuite ESG on-ramp in January 2021, Vulcan Energy (ASX: VUL) secured $120M from ESG investors.

Newly committed Province Resources (ASX: PRL) rose 30% on announcing adoption of ESG reporting and raised $18M including from ESG funds.

Three companies have appointed their first female director since adopting the ESG program and other early adopters report making practical progress against their ESG credentials.

Investors are increasingly demanding better ESG.

An additional thirteen ASX-listed companies recently signed on to ESG on-ramp and are leading the way globally by committing to ESG reporting.

The initial six companies to sign up to Socialsuite’s ESG-on-ramp have now completed their baseline ESG report, first quarterly ESG action plan, and continue to report their progress to stakeholders.

These early adopters are:

• Euro Manganese Inc (ASX: EMN)
• Vulcan Energy (ASX: VUL)
• Elixir Energy (ASX: EXR)
• Minbos Resources Limited (ASX: MNB)
• Advanced Human Imaging (ASX: AHI)
• Whitehawk (ASX: WHK)

Thirteen new companies have now completed their baseline ESG report and are commencing their first quarterly ESG action plan:

• Province Resources (ASX:PRL)
• European Metals (ASX:EMH)
• Mandrake (ASX:MAN)
• Thomson (ASX:TMZ)
• Alexium (ASX:AJX)
• Pursuit (ASX:PUR)
• FYI Resources (ASX:FYI)
• Oneview Healthcare (ASX:ONE)
• Aldoro Resources (ASX:ARN)
• Synertec Corporation (ASX:SOP)
• MMJ Group (ASX:MMJ)
• Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH)
• 88 Energy (ASX:88E)

These companies have begun reporting on 21 core ESG metrics and will demonstrate their ESG progress over time to investors in quarterly dashboards and action plans to be included in quarterly financial and operational reports to the ASX.

Francis Wedin, Managing Director at Vulcan Energy explains: “At Vulcan, positive impact and ESG are at the heart of our company’s purpose. We are focused on creating long-term sustainable value, while driving positive outcomes for the business, and this has been demonstrated clearly through our funding round which secured $120M including from ESG investors. Working with Socialsuite has helped us get started with reporting our ESG position and has provided a clear action plan of how we can improve our ESG credentials over time.”

While ESG has been a priority for businesses for some time, a key challenge for small to medium ASX listed companies has been the lack of a practical way to measure, report and improve the shared and sustainable value they create. Socialsuite makes it easy for ASX-listed companies to commit to ESG reporting by providing a straightforward tool for measuring and improving their progress against the World Economic Forum’s ESG framework.

“Strength in ESG allows companies to access more investment, attract and retain talent and secure more customers as well as create social value while providing shareholder returns,” says Damian Hajda, Co-Founder and Director at Socialsuite.

“Socialsuite provides a clear and practical way companies can get started with ESG improvement based on the company’s size and resources, which can be scaled as capacity increases.

“Looking at the data from the first quarter, it’s clear the companies see where their attention needs to be focused and where they can make quick changes to deliver significant impact. Initially, we’ve seen a large focus from boards on finalising their purpose statement and ensuring compliance issues such as health and safety are being reported.”

Neil Young, CEO at Elixir Energy, says, “Working with Socialsuite enabled us to quickly and easily identify where there are gaps in our ESG strategy and how we can improve our position. In the last quarter we have appointed a female board director and are now actively seeking out decarbonisation projects to reduce our carbon intensity and deliver social value. We also have a clear roadmap for achieving ESG goals that will take more time.”

David Frances, Managing Director of Province Resources commented, “As we attempt to build a business that has the potential to supply zero carbon hydrogen to fuel the planet for multiple future generations we aspire to set the ground rules and pathway for our Company’s journey towards global ESG compliance and reporting supported by the Socialsuite package.”

Oneview Healthcare CEO James Fitter is also committed to making a difference saying, “The principals of ESG are grounded squarely in our culture and are ingrained into our company growth plans.

"We have long taken pride in the principles of diversity, inclusion and equality, but Socialsuite has provided us with additional transparency and a benchmark to focus on to ensure ESG goals are fully integrated into the operation of the company.

"It’s an over-used cliché to say your company makes a difference in the world but as a trusted partner to some of the leading healthcare systems in the world, we live the commitment to help create a safer, healthier world and witness this regularly through positive patient and clinician feedback,” Fitter concluded.

As the number of ASX companies adopting Socialsuite ESG grows, Socialsuite will be able to provide data to the public on how quickly ASX companies are progressing their ESG credentials over time and what each ESG indicators each sector is focusing on improving at any given time.

Socialsuite’s ESG technology helps companies work towards best-in-class ESG over time through

• quarterly monitoring of key ESG indicators
• quarterly prioritisation of ESG improvements
• assistance to implement ESG improvements
• team responsibilities and task management through quarterly ESG action plans
• ongoing ESG reporting to key stakeholders.

Socialsuite has clients across the Asia-Pacific, Americas and Europe. They include financial institutions, companies, government agencies, philanthropic foundations, not-for-profits, and NGOs.

To learn more about ESG reporting with Socialsuite, visit https://socialsuitehq.com/esg.