ESG: FRAMING THE FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS

FRAMING THE FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS

INTERVIEW WITH EAS DIRECTORS, KURT ROELANDT, NATHAN PILLAY & ALFIE NAIDOO

Kurt Roelant- Director

Envision Advisory Services (EAS) is a boutique management consultancy offering advisory services (eg. Strategy, Operations, Programme Management, ESG, M&A) in combination with analytics and technology offerings. Here Directors Kurt Roelandt and Nathan Pillay explain how ESG fits into their service offering, the effect ESG could have on South Africa and more.

Where do you see ESG advisory in your offering?

Currently ESG is top of mind and several clients reach out to us to find out more to get a better understanding of what the impact is on their business going forward. This can range from how to measure CO2 equivalents, how carbon offsets work to which principles and guidelines to adhere to.

Nathan Pillay- Director

There are many angles to ESG ranging from strategic direction, setting the metrics and targets to effectively implementing the transition plan.

We see a lot of companies telling a good story; however, there are deliberate decisions to be made and actions to be taken to navigate a complex, at times uncertain process. Embedding ESG as a strategic topic within an organisation is key to building and maintaining a profitable and purposeful brand.

Alfie Naidoo- Director

What are the 3 things that will keep a CEO awake from an ESG perspective?

As mentioned earlier lots of promises have been made in the annual reports. For senior leaders it will be important to put in place concrete action plans with realistic targets to fulfil the promises made

Secondly, avoiding the reputation crash of poor or incomplete disclosure, compliance amongst different stakeholders’ groups (standards) will be important to prevent being called out for greenwashing.

Thirdly, finding the balance in the transition strategy between investments for carbon reduction versus the uncertain profitability impact of them

How will the global approach to ESG affect South Africa?

Several jurisdictions are implementing regulations impacting the competitiveness of South African companies e.g. the European Carbon Adjusted Mechanism (CBAM) which will levy a tax based on the carbon emissions levels of imports. This requires an imperative for export driven companies to review their carbon footprint and implement mitigation measures.

How has technology impacted your business model?

Technology is at the heart of our business. Many of our client engagements are technology-led or have very strong technical enabling components, e.g. to drive operational efficiency, enable organisational change and manage risk and productivity. This includes providing bespoke software solutions to enable business capabilities.

Do you have specific technology developed for ESG?

We repeatedly hear from clients their frustration and lack of access to accurate consistent data, with which to make ESG-related decisions. In response, we developed Ethicaa scalable, easy-to-use ESG data capturing and reporting platform to help clients navigate the changing ESG journey.

Do you have exciting plans for the coming year?

We like to share our research and insights with the market, so we focused on finding ways to fast track that aspect and at the same time to use Ethica as an enabler for companies to quickly get on the ESG scorecard.

We are also looking forward to developing our growing footprint in Africa as we see a lot of interesting opportunities.