ESG & responsible investing

All you need to know about ESG - What does it mean, why is ESG reporting important and how Greenstone's ESG software can help your sustainability journey

Our ESG glossary consists of key ESG related terms that are defined and explained by our team of sustainability experts. We hope it will assist you in navigating the intriguing and multi-faceted world of sustainability and ESG reporting.

Investors are now looking for purpose-built ESG software platforms to collect, track and analyse data and material ESG KPIs from their portfolios on an ongoing basis. These are some of the reasons why investors are seeking ESG software to manage portfolio data:

ESG, sustainability, and CSR are three terms that are often used interchangeably but are, in fact, distinct from one another. In this article, we will explain each term, highlight key differences, and discuss their relationship and impact.

The European Commission has adopted the first set of 12 European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), and large and listed EU companies will be required to use these standards from January 2024, as part of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

ESG reporting is becoming increasingly important for government, business, and consumers in South Africa. This article aims to provide an overview of the ESG reporting landscape in South Africa and outline current and upcoming reporting requirements for organisations.

Greenstone's North American team recently attended the North American Sustainability & Responsibility Summit (NASRS) held outside of Austin, Texas. During the event, a number of important themes emerged. In this article, the Greenstone team shares five key topics that were discussed at NASRS23.

Greenstone's North American team had the opportunity to attend GreenBiz 23 in Arizona, USA, in February. In this article, the Greenstone team shares five key topics that were discussed at the event.

In this article, we will explore the concept of materiality in sustainability reporting, and discuss the different types of materiality and how they are used in different reporting standards.

In this article, we will explore the concept of materiality in sustainability reporting, and discuss the different types of materiality and how they are used in different reporting standards.

Greenstone is one of the first ESG platforms to enable private equity firms to submit data to the ESG Data Convergence Initiative (EDCI) via an in-bound API.

PCAF is a worldwide collaboration of financial institutions that work together to develop and implement a harmonised approach to assess and disclose financed emissions. In this article, we explain what PCAF is, how it impacts financed emissions reporting and how financial institutions can participate.

In this interview, Jessica Thurston, Vice President, ESG Strategy at Paramount Global, one of the world's leading producers of premium entertainment content, speaks to ESG software solutions provider Greenstone about the strong influence of the media and entertainment industry and the significance of Paramount’s evolving ESG strategy.

Greenstone is presenting a 30-minute webinar for private equity firms to help them navigate their ESG journey. The focus of this webinar will be where to start when measuring GHG emissions, and broader ESG performance data, across a portfolio.

With 2023 already in full swing, the Greenstone team looks back at the past year in relation to ESG, sustainability and supply chain reporting. Below we have highlighted five key ESG reporting trends to look out for in 2023.

Greenstone attended the recent Responsible Investment Forum in London. Co-hosted with PRI, the Responsible Investment Forum is the longest-running private equity (PE) event focused on bringing together fund managers, institutional investors, and expert advisors to discuss ESG issues across alternative asset classes.  In this article, we identify four key themes during the event.

The ESG Data Convergence Initiative (EDCI) is an industry-led effort by the private equity community to drive consensus around meaningful ESG metrics and generate comparable, performance-based ESG data. This article, published by BCG celebrates the progress that the initiative has made in its inaugural year, highlights a few of the key findings from the benchmark, and encourages other GPs and LPs to join the initiative.

Greenstone was announced the winner of the ´Technology: ESG´ award at The Drawdown Awards ceremony held in London in June 2022. Following this, the Drawdown recently published a winner's profile feature on Greenstone in its publication. This feature is an interview with Greenstone's Head of InvestorPortal, Toby Robertson, on what makes Greenstone's cloud-based SaaS solution InvestorPortal stand out in the market.

This guide aims to act as an advisory tool for Private Equity (PE) firms that are looking at measuring and reporting Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across their portfolio.

Greenstone has been announced as a finalist in the Real Deals ESG Awards 2022. The Real Deals ESG Awards identify and celebrate those who are making positive change through ESG in private equity. Greenstone’s InvestorPortal SaaS solution has been recognised in the ‘ESG Tech’ category.

Greenstone has been providing SaaS solutions for 15 years. Our solutions are built to evolve with our clients’ requirements for now and in the future. In this blog, we aim to uncover what SaaS is, and the advantages it has over other software delivery options.

Whether you are moving beyond spreadsheets for the first time or looking to replace an existing system that isn’t working for your business, knowing where to start your search and what to look for can be a bit overwhelming. Here are 5 things to look for in sustainability and ESG reporting software.

Based on our experience of helping our clients do this, here we have outlined five reasons why spreadsheets are not fit to manage your sustainability data.

Here are some of the top reasons why organisations decide to invest in sustainability reporting software, some ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ for selecting software and a checklist of what to consider when making the decision.

This webinar aims to help companies understand the proposed rules and learn how to prepare their environmental data in accordance with the proposed legislation. This webinar will cover which companies will be affected, what are the proposed disclosure requirements, what Scope 3 data will be material, how you can start preparing your data and reporting and how ESG software can help.

This blog covers the key takeaways on the SEC's new proposal, the answers to some frequently asked questions and how Greenstone’s software can help start preparations.

Greenstone has been announced the winner of the ´Technology: ESG´ award at The Drawdown Awards ceremony. The Drawdown Awards celebrate excellence and innovation within private capital fund operations.

Greenstone was sponsoring Responsible Business Europe in London. This event, running across two days in London, brings together 400+ CEOs and senior-level executives from business, finance and Government to meet, discuss and share best practice on shaping the future of business.

This blog covers who this proposal applies to, what it asks for, what the requirements for scope 3 are and how Greenstone’s software can help start preparations.

Greenstone was part of the Prop Tech & Sustainability Committee at the CoreNet Global New York City Chapter event, that took place in April 2022. The panel spoke on 'How Companies Are Using Technology To Develop Their ESG'.

Calculating GHG emissions from investments (Scope 3, Category 15) can be daunting for private capital investors. In this article, we focus on this challenging category and outline four key things to consider when launching a program to accurately calculate GHG emissions across your entire portfolio.

In this blog, we have summarised one topic that was covered in a recent webinar on the ‘Dynamic ESG landscape & its intersections with sustainable procurement’ – how ESG disclosure impacts procurement teams. Below are 4 key impacts of ESG disclosure and reporting on procurement teams.

Greenstone has been shortlisted as a finalist in The Drawdown Awards, in the ‘Technology: ESG’ category. The Drawdown Awards celebrate excellence and innovation within private capital fund operations.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the release of proposed rule changes that would require US public companies to include climate-related disclosures, including scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions, in their registration statements and periodic reports. Learn more in this blog.

This glossary, providing definitions of the most commonly used terms and concepts in sustainability and ESG reporting, is designed to help sustainability professionals stay up to date with terms, acronyms, frameworks and reporting standards.

As we welcome in a New Year, the Greenstone team reflects on 2021 and its significance in areas of sustainability, ESG and responsible supply chains. This blog focuses on the top five trends to watch out for in 2022.

Each year, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, one of the largest asset management companies worldwide, releases a letter to CEOs. In this blog, we summarise some key points of Larry Fink’s 2022 letter to CEOs.

Providing a central hub for the collection and aggregation of Scope 3 data across all 15 Scope 3 categories, Greenstone’s solutions support businesses on their Scope 3 reporting journey, whether they are just starting out or they have been reporting in this area for years.

In this webinar, with a guest speaker from Value Reporting Foundation, award-winning ESG software provider Greenstone discusses how to unlock ESG data to simplify the reporting challenge.

This page is dedicated to sustainability reporting and covers topics such as: Is your sustainability data accessible? How to make sustainability reporting work for your business and how to improve transparency in your sustainability reporting.

In this blog post, we explore the metrics outlined in these standards, how the relevant data can be collected from portfolio companies, and how private equity managers can stay one step ahead by adopting these metrics to enhance their ESG capabilities.

Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, an American multinational investment management corporation, has released his annual letter to CEOs. In this blog, we summarise some key points of the letter and what they mean for the future of ESG reporting and business.

Even though it’s early days in terms of reporting deadlines for SFDR, there is a lot of discussion around what it means for financial firms and ESG reporting. Our team of industry experts has written the following blog, addressing the key points and meaningful deadlines of the regulation that businesses should be aware of.

With the turn of a New Year, sustainability, ESG and supply chain software solutions provider Greenstone, reflects on 2020 and pulls out some key reporting trends to watch out for in 2021. In this blog we highlight the top 5 sustainability, ESG & supply chain reporting trends for 2021.

The Business Intelligence Group named Greenstone’s InvestorPortal software ‘Sustainability Product of the Year’ in the 2020 Sustainability Awards program. This prestigious award recognises Greenstone for its innovation and agility to evolve and develop its software solutions in response to specific market requirements.

As recently as 5 years ago, ESG (Environmental Social Governance) investing was still considered a very niche activity. The most striking development was over the past years. Lately, Private Capital as well as Public Equity funds, are starting to integrate ESG scoring into the analysis of their portfolios.

Learn more about how Greenstone’s team of sustainability experts can help you to interpret the EU Taxonomy regulation to determine whether or not you need to report, and then formulate a plan for how to comply.

In this blog, we cover some of the essential aspects of the regulation so you can be sure that your company can meet the EU Taxonomy reporting requirements.

In this webinar, Greenstone will give an overview of the key risks and opportunities that ESG presents to private equity firms. This webinar is part of Climate Week NYC 2020

In this article we highlight some of the key details to help companies captured under the regulation prepare.

Sustainability is increasingly becoming a big part of most companies. However, many businesses are facing a significant ramp up in investor pressure and ESG information requests. This blogs discusses the importance of long-term ESG data management resilience

Greenstone recently held a webinar on ‘EU Taxonomy for sustainable finance - key impacts for companies and investors’. As a follow up to this webinar, we have compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions from our audience:

This free 30-minute webinar gives an introduction to the EU Taxonomy on sustainable finance. It also covers key implications for companies, investors and issuers, including those reporting under the Non-Financial Reporting Directive. Finally, we give an Introduction to performance thresholds and technical screening plus practical tips on how to incorporate the EU Taxonomy.