It has to be done with stakeholders, the board, and partners in your sector in mind. The board’s role is critical because it needs to emphasize to management that this is not just another reporting exercise, but truly strategic.

To do this well, boards need to understand a few key questions: What are your material risks? What are your material opportunities? How are you building those into business strategy? What are the KPIs that you can manage against? And how are you going to be reporting credibly to third parties who care about this?

Companies also need to recruit partners in other sectors for every aspect of ESG challenges. They need to work with environmental, social, and compliance NGOs to develop good standards, with local NGOs, and with academics who all understand the root challenges.