At Saffery, we support organisations navigating growth, regulation and change.
Sustainability is now a business-critical issue, with investors, lenders, customers and larger organisations asking more detailed questions about sustainability performance and commitments. We help clients understand what this means in practical terms, manage risk and identify where sustainability can support long-term value.
Our specialist Sustainability and ESG team provides clear, proportionate and commercially-focused advice across reporting, strategy, outsourced support and transaction-related sustainability matters.
Get in touch to find out how we can support you.
Every organisation is at a different stage of its sustainability journey. Some are navigating reporting requirements, while others are responding to increasing expectations from customers, investors, lenders and suppliers. Many are doing both.
Turning these pressures into a clear, practical sustainability strategy can be challenging, particularly for organisations with limited internal capacity or specialist expertise.
Our Sustainability and ESG team works with organisations to turn these pressures into practical action. We provide support across three core areas:
We are helping organisations prepare credible, decision-useful sustainability disclosures and build confidence in the underlying data.
We are helping organisations set priorities, develop plans, create new business value and access specialist support without necessarily building a full in-house team.
We are helping investors, acquirers and portfolio companies understand sustainability-related risks, opportunities and value drivers.
Our approach is tailored to your organisation, your stakeholders and your level of maturity. We focus on what is proportionate, achievable and commercially relevant.
Download our Sustainability and ESG brochure
Applicable sustainability reporting requirements depend on your organisation’s size, structure, listing status and geographic footprint. These may include the UK’s Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) requirements, UK climate-related financial disclosures, the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) for companies within scope, and voluntary or stakeholder-led reporting under frameworks and standards such as ISSB, GRI or the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS).
Please get in touch to discuss whether each of these standards is likely to be applicable to your business.
Key steps include conducting a UK SRS gap assessment, identifying material sustainability-related risks and opportunities, strengthening governance oversight, establishing processes to collect and verify ESG data, and developing disclosures aligned with UK SRS S1 and S2.
Find out more about UK SRS here, or get in touch with our expert team to discuss the next steps for your business.
Investors, lenders and customers increasingly expect organisations to provide information on sustainability-related risks, opportunities, performance and targets. Common areas of interest include climate-related risks and opportunities, greenhouse gas emissions, governance, workforce matters, supply chain practices, and how sustainability issues may affect long-term business performance and resilience, but many firms will take a bespoke approach depending on their size, sector and sustainability ambitions.
For more information on sustainability due diligence as part of corporate transactions, please click here.
Improving the quality and reliability of sustainability data starts with establishing clear data ownership, consistent methodologies, documented evidence trails and robust internal controls. Organisations should implement processes to validate data, perform regular quality checks, maintain supporting documentation and ensure that data is collected consistently across the business. Independent reviews, and external can help identify weaknesses in data, controls and reporting processes, increasing confidence in the information reported.
Whether external assurance is needed depends on your regulatory obligations, stakeholder expectations and reporting objectives. For some organisations, assurance may be a regulatory requirement. For example, the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires independent assurance over sustainability disclosures for entities within scope.
Identifying your most material sustainability issues typically involves a structured materiality assessment that considers both your organisation’s sustainability impacts and the sustainability-related risks and opportunities that could affect the business. This approach is a key component of leading reporting frameworks and regulations, such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and can also help organisations respond to stakeholder expectations.
Many organisations adopt a combination of internal and outsourced sustainability support. Internal teams provide business knowledge and day-to-day ownership, while external specialists can offer technical expertise, additional capacity and independent challenge.
Where internal capacity is limited, our outsourcing service can provide ongoing support with sustainability data management, reporting and disclosures, allowing your team to focus on core business activities. Get in touch to find out more about our outsourcing service.
Sustainability risks and opportunities can affect a transaction, valuation or exit process. During , buyers, investors and lenders may assess factors such as climate risks, regulatory compliance, supply chain practices, workforce issues and governance arrangements to identify potential liabilities, operational risks or future investment requirements. Strong sustainability performance can enhance business resilience, attractiveness and value, while unmanaged sustainability risks may affect deal terms, valuation assumptions or investor appetite.
For more information on sustainability due diligence as part of corporate transactions, please click here.
Partner, London
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