Unleashing Power of Data

Unleashing Power of Data | 59 [ POWER OF DATA TO FAST-TRACK ESG GOALS ] Companies want to invest more in ESG data analytics, but spec i f i c cha l l enges are preventing it: Nearly all respondents (89%) said their firms are holding back inves tment in thei r ESG capabi l i t i es for spec i f i c reasons. Unsurprisingly, the top two investment hurdles are immature internal data practices and a lack of trust in available ESG data to make decisions. Firms must improve their internal data practices and find ways to bring more integrity to their ESG data so they can bemore comfortable using it to make decisions. What prevented an organization from investing more in ESG data analytics? Source: Forrester Consulting and D&B Analysis ESG DATA SCARCITY HINDERS CORPORATE PROGRESS According to four out of five respondents, a successful ESG strategy requires effective data collection. But the most significant ESG-related challenges firms face is not having enough data (47%), the inability to validate and trust data (46%), and ESG data that is inconsistent or of poor quality (46%). Without access to enough data that is trusted, accurate, and consistent, firms will continue to struggle making ESG-related decisions. To move beyond simple compliance and maximize the value their ESG strategies create, firms must find ways to acquire ESG data that they can trust — and acquire enough of it to effectively measure, monitor, and report against. ESG data on pr i vatel y held companies remains elusive. ESG strategies are incomplete without data on third parties, including privately held businesses. But due to the lack of disclosure requirements, ESG data for private companies is hard to acquire. 42% of respondents stated that an inability to acquire ESG data on privately held businesses prevents their firms from meeting ESG goals. ESG DATA MANAGEMENT: A MUST-HAVE FOR BUSINESSES Effective internal ESG-related data management is a mission- critical pillar of success, and a top-five challenge for nearly half of respondents’ firms. Even in an ideal scenario of unfettered access to ESGdata, companies will inevitably struggle to meet their ESG goals and thus face higher risk if they don’t have the right data management processes and technology. Digging deeper, it was found that companies struggle to integrate ESG data wi th thei r exist ing systems (43%), which doesn’t just cause problems when trying to make data-driven decisions, but also hinders them in the critical step of reporting ESG progress to stakeholders and regulators. Dun & Bradstreet