With over 2,400 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) regulations worldwide, increasing by 155% in the last decade, ESG reporting is quickly becoming a standard practice for businesses. Yet despite its critical role in corporate compliance, surprisingly 47% of organizations still rely on error-prone spreadsheets to manage ESG data.Â
With “poor quality or availability of ESG data and analytics” and “poor quality of sustainability investment reporting” cited as the two biggest barriers to adopting sustainable investing, it’s clear that legacy technology is inadequate for today’s more stringent requirements.Â
In response to these challenges, many companies are turning to specialized ESG reporting software to enhance reporting accuracy and streamline their efforts. Â
This article will take a look at the current state of ESG reporting, explain why ESG reporting software is worth the investment, and compare 16 of the best tools out there to get your reporting on the right track.
In 2024, ESG reporting is increasingly driven by stakeholder demands for more transparency and accountability, with investors more likely to trust fully audited ESG reports. Evolving regulatory requirements like the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) are also introducing new reporting pressures for companies.
Given this backdrop, it’s clear why many businesses are turning to new technology to address the challenges of legacy systems complicating data management. ESG reporting software has emerged as a crucial tool, offering deep insights and a competitive edge for companies committed to sustainability.
ESG reporting focuses on disclosing specific data points to assess a company's environmental, social, and governance risks and performance. Primarily investor-focused, it includes sustainability measures as well as metrics related to gender equality, employee benefits, greenwashing, and more.
Sustainability reporting, on the other hand, is broader and focuses on environmental, social, and economic impacts. It’s often used as a communication tool by businesses to show progress toward sustainable development goals. It includes measuring things like carbon emissions and energy and water consumption.
When done manually, ESG data collection and reporting is a time-consuming, error-prone, and costly process. It also becomes increasingly complex to manage as your business grows. Without painstaking oversight, it can increase the risk of non-compliance with ESG reporting standards and regulations.Â
It can also restrict your ability to deeply analyze data and identify trends, making strategic decision-making more difficult. Additionally, it can lead to inconsistent reporting, affecting comparability over time.
ESG reporting software is specifically designed to alleviate the shortcomings of manual reporting. It also includes features to help you improve sustainability performance, compliance, and strategic positioning. Here are some of the top reasons to justify the investment:
Now, let’s dive into the top 16 ESG reporting tools available on the market:
Coolset is an ESG reporting platform that helps mid-market companies measure, analyze, and reduce their Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. From streamlined data collection to auto-generated reports, it makes your ESG data audit-ready, so you can reduce emissions effectively and comply with regulations like the CSRD.
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Workday is a cloud-based software provider that develops applications to help businesses manage payroll, benefits, HR, and employee data. Its data and analytics platform helps businesses stay on track with ESG initiatives and reporting by delivering critical sustainability insights to decision-makers.Â
Diligent’s ESG reporting platform makes it easy to monitor, measure, and report on ESG matters. From centralized data collection and measurement to automated reporting it helps businesses to expertly manage evolving ESG considerations.
Workiva unifies financial reporting, ESG reporting, and auditing and risk management into one centralized hub. With pre-built ESG frameworks and standards to choose from, businesses can measure what’s relevant for them to keep up with evolving regulations and stakeholder expectations.Â
Sweep is a carbon and ESG data platform that helps businesses collect, manage, and report ESG data. With simplified data collection and reporting, Sweep assists companies across a wide range of industries collect the ESG information they need based on the latest standards and frameworks.Â
Persefoni is an AI-powered climate management and carbon accounting platform. It helps businesses measure their carbon footprint, create decarbonization plans, and comply with emissions reporting requirements like the SEC, CSRD, and more.
Cority’s sustainability and ESG solution helps businesses to measure and report their ESG performance. From streamlined data collection to configurable sustainability and CSR reporting templates, the tool is all about helping organizations ensure their ESG data is accurate and auditable.Â
Designed for enterprise leaders, Benchmark Gensuite’s ESG reporting and management software helps businesses compile investor-grade ESG data and insights. It has four sustainability tools designed to help companies track emissions, assess resource utilization, build reduction plans, and prioritize ESG issues.
LucaNet is an end-to-end ESG solution that collects and analyzes sustainability data and produces fully compliant reports. It helps businesses accelerate their reporting, improve data quality, identify risks, and comply with reporting obligations.
Greenly is a carbon accounting platform that helps businesses assess, manage, and reduce CO2 emissions. It allows you to measure greenhouse gas emissions, build customized decarbonization plans, participate in carbon offsetting programs, and produce reports to communicate your progress.
IBM’s Envizi ESG Suite is a cloud-based ESG reporting software that helps enterprises capture and manage ESG data in a single platform. Its templates allow you to report in alignment with multiple frameworks.
AuditBoard’s ESG and sustainability management platform helps businesses to centralize their ESG program into a single platform. It streamlines data collection, automates manual tasks, simplifies reporting, and ensures data accuracy.
Novisto is an ESG data management and analytics platform that automates workflows to help businesses fast-track their sustainability journeys. It includes features for ESG data collection, reporting, benchmarking, collaboration, and risk management.
SustainIQ helps businesses to measure, monitor, and report on sustainability and ESG data in real-time. It takes factors like waste management, social value, biodiversity, and more into consideration to provide a holistic view of ESG performance.
KeyESG is an “all-in-one” ESG management software to manage, analyze, report on, and improve ESG performance. It helps businesses automate data collection, calculate and estimate emissions, measure and analyze data, and report in line with global standards.
PlanA’s ESG reporting software automates and centralizes ESG reporting. It includes features for data collection, reporting, calculations, decarbonization pathways, and support.
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When selecting ESG reporting software for your business, there are a few important factors to consider:
As you can see, there are plenty of ESG reporting tools out there to enhance your business’s ESG data management. We hope this article provided you with a nice overview of the different options available.Â
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At Coolset, we specialize in helping mid-market companies streamline ESG data collection and focus their efforts on reducing and reporting impact in line with leading sustainability frameworks.Â
Discover the capabilities of our reporting platform by scheduling a free demo with an ESG expert today.
Try Coolset's ESG reporting software
Try Coolset's ESG reporting software
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