ESG is no longer a fad. Keeping aside the need for ESG reporting to keep a check on organisations operations and to achieve sustainable development, companies have realised its long-term financial benefits. As the environment takes a turn for the worse, consumers become more aware of the same and are willing to make changes, thus making them willing to spend more on eco-friendly products. Investors are also becoming conscious of their investments, looking for projects that are viable in the long run. Such changes bring about financial benefits for companies.

Financial benefits of ESG reporting

• Competitive Edge: Investing in ESG and reporting their impact gives businesses an edge over their competitors and gives them the room to differentiate themselves from others. Using sustainable methods for their operations can attract new customers and retain existing ones. They can even attract new investors, who are looking for companies that value sustainability. As consumers and investors appreciate transparency and accountability, ESG reporting can go a long in building brand loyalty.
  

• Risk Mitigation in the Long Run: Seeing that both the environment and the economy have become extremely volatile in nature, it essential to get ahead of the curve of uncertainty. Involving ESG factors in the decision making processes, strategies, and plans will help analyse where the company is at and can give a realistic view on how the company will be able to function in the long run. It will also help in analysing future risks and provide solutions to counter them efficiently.
  

• Low Cost of Capital: Implementing ESG practises such as using renewable sources of energy can reduce the cost of capital over the long run. Since they mitigate future risks as well they will reduce future costs, improving the financial performance. Studies by the World Economic Forum show that renewable sources of energy such as as solar and wind energy have lower cost of capital as compared to fossil fuels. This can lead to better access to capital and help with the company's financial prudence.
  

• Low Operational Costs: Although installation costs are high, machinery and technology that promotes sustainability have low operational costs. Most of the technology, like clean energy, helps in reducing costs. Costs of resource procurement, maintenance, etc, are examples of operational costs that go down drastically once invested in ESG.
  

The Role of CFOs in integrating ESG

The Chief Financial Officer's responsibilities lie in the need to control how the company uses its finances and what can be done to better the financial efficiency and performance. One may argue that ESG reporting is based on non-financial parameters and thus CFOs have a limited role. However, seeing as ESG does help with the same, it seems that CFOs do have an important role in integrating it with the company's overall goals and structures. They can help identify ESG factors that can better the company's performance, codify the same, and ensure compliance within the company. Since CFOs are in a position to understand each stakeholder, they can play a crucial part in analysing how the ESG strategies and plans will contribute to the growth of the company and most importantly whether they are feasible or not.

4 ways a CFO can help ensure ESG incorporation, compliance, and reporting are:

• Steering funds toward sustainable projects: CFOs are incharge of the funds provided to different projects in the company. Since they have a major say in the decision making processes, they can prioritise projects that use sustainable methods. This however must also align with the company's business goals. Thus it is important for the CFO to match the financial goals with the ESG factors and aims.
  

• Quantifying the impact of sustainable investments: Their ability to quantify the impact made by sustainable projects can help ESG reporting and increase the transparency required. With the number of mandates and requirements for ESG reporting increasing, CFO can bring the comprehensiveness to these reports. It also reduces the potential for any internal conflict that may arise due to the integration of ESG into business goals.
  

• Ensuring compliance: The compliance mandates and requirements have become increasing complex. Reporting has become an essential part of end of year statements. It is thus important for the finance departments to ensure that all information that is being reported to all stakeholders is accurate and compliant. Non-compliance can lead to huge penalties, like fines, that need to be prevented through thorough analysis by the finance department to ensure that compliance is maintained.

• Giving equal importance to financial and non-financial factors: It is not possible to analyse the company by just its financial parameters. The company's impact on the environment and society is also important to keep in mind while evaluating the company. Since the CFO is a key decision maker, it is essential to link the financial and non-financial factors and map how they affect each other to come up with strategies that can satisfy the business goals as well as sustainability goals.
  

As we see above, a CFO can play the role of a strategist, a facilitator, and an enforcer so that the company can reap the benefits of ESG investment, compliance, and reporting. As the transition into a green economy begins to increase its pace, CFOs can play a crucial part to help their companies perform better both in terms of the finance and the impact they create on the environment and the society.