+49 (0)30 4397 168‑60
www.kontakt@audit‑professionals.de
Sustainability strategy, ESG risk assessment, CSR and sustainability reporting, supply chain due diligence – almost every day companies are confronted with all these buzzwords and have to deal with the ambiguity of their meaning and to what extent these topics are relevant for the business activities.
Regulatory frameworks and legal requirements such as the EU Green Deal, EU directives on sustainability reporting, supply chain laws, taxonomy, requirements from the financial sector and national legal requirements are putting immediate pressure on the companies and convey urgency to act.
Understanding and addressing all relevant sustainability issues and specific legal requirements and reporting obligations are serious challenges for most companies due to shortage of resources and lack of experience with these topics. External expertise and support can help to manage these challenges.
Our consultants working for iAP have many years of experience with these topics. We support you in managing your sustainability activities.
Starting with gaining transparency on the current status of ESG activities in your company including your supply chain we support you in
- developing a long-term sustainability strategy based on ESG risk assessments
- implementing your sustainability program
- setting up your sustainability or supply chain reporting according the chosen ESG standards or specific legal requirements.
ESG Due Diligence
From gap analysis on your internal policies to taking inventory on-site: Careful examination and analysis of your company’s regulatory and economic framework with regard to sustainability aspects, as well as determining the current maturity level of your sustainability activities, are the foundational steps for defining your ESG program or for initiating specific ESG activities.
Important aspects are:
- Impact analysis regarding the regulatory requirements
- Industry specific requirements
- Corporate strategy and values
- Organization & processes (planning, management and internal controls)
- Internal reporting / data flow across all levels
- External Communications / Marketing / Reports
We support you in planning and performing a company-wide ESG due diligence in creating transparency on the sustainability of your business activities and the maturity of related sustainability processes.
ESG Strategy & Governance
Creation of an ESG strategy and setting up a suitable governance structure are the basis for defining an ESG program and the subsequent implementation plan.
Based on transparency of the current status gained by due diligence, we determine your stakeholders and your sustainability target system, develop your sustainability strategy and establish the necessary governance structures in your company.
From the development of your sustainability strategy to project implementation, we closely work with you to develop, implement or further improve your ESG program.
Identification of ESG Risks
Early recognition of ESG -related risks is crucial for companies as the materialization of such risks can have significant impact, such as claims for damages, damages to the company’s reputation or even fines. In a worst-case scenario even the survival of the entire company might be at risk.
To avoid such scenarios, a profound ESG risk assessment should be performed encompassing the full scope of ESG topics, among others:
Environmental
- CO2 emissions and carbon footprint
- consumption of limited resources
- pollution of the environment
Social
- Respect for human rights in the supply chain
- working conditions
- employee protection
Governance
- Responsible corporate management and internal processes
- Sustainable finance
- Non-Financial Reporting
We support you in identifying and analyzing your ESG risks – from the inside-out perspective, i.e. the influence of your business activities on your environment, and from the outside-in perspective, which reflects all the influences of your business environment on your company.
Stakeholder, Materiality and Risk Analysis
Using both qualitative and quantitative analyses, we support you in identifying all factors that have significant impact on your organization as well as the factors from the outside-in perspective which reflect the impact of your business environment on your company.
Our experts work with your management to identify and prioritize the sustainability issues and ESG risks relevant for your company and to develop a tailored ESG program or to determine the scope of your sustainability reporting.
Implementation of the ESG Program
Within the implementation of your company’s sustainability strategy, we support you in creating a tailored ESG program consisting of a detailed planning of activities, which typically affects the organization, processes, key figure and incentive schemes.
In order to be able to monitor the achievement of the defined sustainability goals over time, a suitable set of indicators and KPIs must be defined, and the respective monitoring processes implemented.
We support you in the design and implementation of the internal management and control system (ICS) for sustainability, which also forms the basis for the creation of a regular sustainability report.
Supply Chain Due Diligence
According to §3 Abs.1 LkSG (Supply Chain Due Diligence Act), larger companies are obliged to comply with human rights and environmental impacts in their supply chains in an appropriate manner. Examples are:
Human rights-related risks (examples)
- Children- and forced labour
- Workplace discrimination
- Slavery
Environmental risks (examples)
- Ban on production and use of mercury
- Export ban for hazardous waste
We support you in collecting report-relevant information across your company with regard to your supply chains, e.g. by performing supply chain audits, based on the legal requirements and the implementation regulations developed by the BaFa (Federal Office of Economics and Export Control).
Sustainability Report
In order to fulfill your legal reporting obligations (e.g. the upcoming CSRD/CSR-RUG 2) or your customers’ inquiries about your supply chain, a sustainability report must be created.
We support you in the conception and creation of your audit-proof sustainability report according the standard that has been chosen as basis for the report (e.g. DNK, CSRD, GRI, or similar).
Audits & Assurance
Companies that are required to publish a sustainability report, but also companies that want to increase their credibility, must have their sustainability report formally checked and assured, e.g. by a certified auditor.
With many years of auditing experience and close connection to our global network of CPAs, we support your company, auditors and supervisory board members in the creation of audit reports according to international standards, with support of the certification process and the auditing of sustainability reports across all industries.
By assuring the reporting according to defined standards (e.g. CSRD, GRI standards, DNK or similar), we determine the correctness of the reporting, perform risk assessments and create a formal audit report on sustainability according to international standards.
Sustainable IT
Driven by technological change and ongoing digitization, IT is playing an increasingly important role in almost all market sectors, depending on the industry and entity-specific business processes.
From the overall IT architecture to the disposal of end devices – in order to achieve the sustainability goals, also IT-related decisions must be considered, encompassing the entire life cycle and operational aspects of IT systems:
- Overall design of the IT architecture
- Sustainable design and development of software and applications
- Design of the IT operating environment
- Procurement of the required system components and sustainable IT supply chain
- Sustainable operation of the IT infrastructure in the data center or the cloud
- Disposal or refurbishment of IT components and end devices
We support and advise you in aligning your corporate IT environment with sustainability criteria and in integrating these activities into your internal ESG management & control system.
Sustainability / ESG Delegate
In order to successfully advance the activities around sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in your company and to be able to use your resources where they are really needed, we offer you support from our experienced consultants as SME’s.
Our experts have the required experience, methodology skills and specific experience to drive your ESG activities and to support you in being compliant with the relevant regulatory requirements.
Audit & Certification
IT-Security & Resilience
Consulting
+49 30 4397 168 60
