In the context of sustainable development becoming an inevitable trend of the global economy, ESG (Environmental – Social – Governance) is gradually becoming a “green passport” for all businesses. ESG reports not only help businesses clarify their activities related to the environment, society and governance, but are also an important tool to attract investors, meet legal requirements, and enhance brand reputation. So what is an ESG report? How to prepare an accurate ESG report? Let's find out the details with GREEN IN in the content below!
What is ESG reporting?
ESG (Environmental – Social – Governance) report is a document that shows how a business manages and discloses activities related to the environment, society and governance. This is a testament to the commitment to sustainable development, helping businesses increase trust with investors, customers, and stakeholders can assess the level of transparency, responsibility and partnership and management agencies. Through the report, the business's risk management ability in the long term.
ESG reporting aims to provide quantitative and qualitative information on a company’s impact on three dimensions: environmental (e.g., carbon emissions, resource use), social (labor policies, community responsibility), and governance (management structure, transparency). The main purpose is to increase accountability, while helping businesses access green capital, meet legal requirements, and enhance brand reputation.
Basic structure of an ESG report template
According to KPMG's 2022 survey, the world's leading businesses all have a relatively unified reporting structure, focusing on three pillars of environment, society and governance, along with clear quantitative indicators to track the organization's progress and commitments.
- Introduction: The company provides an overview of its business operations, long-term vision, and especially its commitment to integrating ESG into its development strategy. This section often reflects a message from senior leaders, affirming the company's determination and responsibility.
- Environmental Aspect (E – Environmental): This section outlines how the business manages environmental issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water consumption, waste treatment and recycling. If the business has set a net zero target, information on the roadmap and implementation measures will also be highlighted in this section.
- Social Aspect (S – Social): The social section reflects the responsibility of the business to people and the community. Commonly mentioned contents include labor policies, occupational safety and health, gender equality, human resource development, and community-oriented social responsibility (CSR) programs.
- Governance Aspect (G – Governance): ESG reports should also demonstrate how the company establishes and maintains a transparent governance system. This includes internal governance structures, anti-corruption policies, corporate governance principles that ensure financial disclosure and transparency and protect shareholder interests.
- Indicators & KPIs: One of the key points for convincing ESG reporting is the disclosure of quantitative indicators. For example, carbon footprint, proportion of women in leadership, number of hours of employee training or occupational accident rate are specifically reported to demonstrate actual efforts instead of just commitments on paper.
- Appendix: Finally, the report is often accompanied by an appendix explaining the measurement methodology, data sources and reference standards (e.g. GRI, SASB, TCFD, ISSB). This information increases transparency and allows for comparison and reconciliation with reports from other companies.
How businesses build ESG reports
Enterprises build ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) reports according to a methodical process including the following main steps:
- Define reporting objectives and scope: Enterprises need to clearly define the reporting objectives (for example: building a brand, attracting capital, meeting investor requirements), target readers (shareholders, investors, customers) and the scope of the content to be reported (all 3 ESG aspects or focusing on some specific issues).
- Select reporting framework and set KPIs: Choose appropriate reporting standards according to your industry, size and corporate strategy; establish key metrics for each environmental, social and governance section.
- Data collection and standardization: Collect accurate data from relevant departments, ensuring consistency and verifiability. Specialized software can be used to automate the data collection process.
- Report presentation: Standardize and organize data into logical, easy-to-understand reports, using charts and infographics to support illustration. Include sections: introduction (sustainability strategy introduction), main content (ESG data analysis), appendix (references, certifications).
- Verify information: Review and check the accuracy and transparency of data in the report. Often invite independent auditing organizations to evaluate and increase reliability.
- Report publication: Publish reports on media channels (website, social networks) and send them to investors and partners to enhance reputation and create trust.
This process is recommended to be carried out periodically, usually annually or quarterly, to continuously update the business's sustainability progress, ensuring ESG reporting is transparent, accurate and valuable to stakeholders.
Some typical ESG report samples
At the global corporate level, Microsoft is a leader in sustainability reporting. The latest report (Microsoft Sustainability Report 2023/2025) outlines long-term commitments such as achieving carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030, and discloses progress related to carbon emissions reduction, water conservation, waste management, and ecosystem protection.
In terms of Vietnamese enterprises, Vinamilk is a prominent example in publishing sustainability reports. The recent report shows that the company has built a clear roadmap towards Netzero by 2050, with steps to reduce emissions such as cutting 15% by 2027, 55% by 2035 compared to the current milestone. Vinamilk also focuses on specific contents such as sustainable agriculture (GlobalG.AP certified), green value chain management, and transparency in reporting activities related to the environment, society and governance.
Another typical example from Vietnam is SSI – SSI Securities Corporation, with Sustainable Development Report 2022. The report is built according to GRI standards (Core option), following the process of determining report content based on materiality assessment, thereby focusing on areas such as economic efficiency, risk management, human resource training, anti-corruption, environmental protection in office activities and contribution to the community. The report classifies indicators according to groups GRI 100 – General Information, GRI 200 – Economic Standards, GRI 300 – Environment, and GRI 400 – Society.
Conclusion
In the context of the global trend of increasingly tightening information disclosure requirements, especially with the emergence of international standards such as GRI, SASB, ISSB/IFRS, implementing a professional ESG report will be a sustainable competitive advantage. Enterprises that are ahead in this journey will have the opportunity to strengthen trust with stakeholders, enhance brand value and increase access to international capital.