As we reflect on our growth and achievements from the past year, we are proud to see how the sustainability space continues to evolve worldwide and are excited to evolve along with it. From new faces to new strategies, join us as we take a look back at 2023.
Welcoming Kedge and SOCC: Partners in Sustainable Impact
In early 2023, Kedge and SOCC—two blue economy leaders within Australasia and Oceania—joined the ADEC Innovations group of companies. These sister companies focus on balancing the health of the ocean’s ecosystems with economic growth. Our work together expands ADEC’s capacity to help improve global ocean stewardship while allowing Kedge and SOCC to leverage ADEC ESG’s expertise in sustainable strategy, data management, and ESG reporting on a larger scale.
Spotlight on connection
Collaboration and connection have been key themes among global sustainability trends in the past year. For example:
- The growing ESG regulatory landscape is accelerating private sector action.
- The streamlining of ESG reporting frameworks in new, aligned standards like the IFRS S1 and S2 has required an enormous amount of collaboration on the part of organizations worldwide.
- There has been an increased focus on scope 3 emissions and value chain ESG data tracking, meaning that engaging supply chain partners on sustainability and choosing collaborators with commitments that align with yours is paramount.
The ADEC ESG team also shone a spotlight on connection in 2023 with an in-person team summit in October. Our diverse, passionate team of ESG experts met in our Walnut Creek, California offices to share experiences and goals, consciously shift perspectives, and connect in a relaxed, open environment. The summit gave us a chance to sit down together and discuss the creation of working groups focused on Regulatory Risk, ESG Report Assurance, and Supply-chain Data Management, which are growth focus areas for 2024.
The evolving ESG space
Recently, we’ve seen many ESG-related regulations come into force—or be finalized for future application.
- California’s Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB-253) and Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB-261) were passed, mandating disclosure of all global GHG emissions and climate-related financial risks for impacted public and private companies.
- Affected companies are beginning to gear up for the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which was finalized in 2022 and will begin requiring reporting for FY2024 in 2025.
- Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act came into force in 2023, requiring that companies within its scope meet certain human rights and environmental risk management obligations.
- The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) also came into force in 2023 as a part of the EU Green Deal. Once adopted by Member States, the regulation will require any company importing or exporting certain commodities from the EU to prove that the products are deforestation-free.
- Both the UK and Switzerland began mandating TCFD disclosures in 2023.
These—among many other—regulatory actions are bringing sustainability to the forefront of business. Companies are realizing that they need to take ESG data reporting as seriously as financial reporting, and that they will need to tackle the challenges of ESG data management in order to do so. In a webinar hosted by Alicia Godlove and Alka Bhide, we helped viewers navigate these regulatory changes, discussing some of the latest ESG reporting trends among CDP, the CSRD, IFRS S2, the TCFD, and U.S.-specific regulations like the SEC’s proposed ruling and California’s Climate Accountability Package.
Moving forward
As we embark on a new year in 2024, we are excited to see the ESG space continue to change and mature, as it helps us remember that we must do so also. We thank our amazing (and growing!) team for their incredible work over the past year, and look forward to supporting our clients on every step of their Sustainability Journeys.
ADEC ESG Solutions provides fully integrated industry expertise, software solutions, and data management services to help global companies meet their sustainability goals. Sign up for our monthly newsletter GreenWatch to stay up to date on changes in the ESG space and hear from our leading experts.
