An ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) checklist is a tool used to evaluate a company's sustainability performance, risk management, and ethical practices. It helps businesses and investors identify, measure, and manage risks related to climate change, social responsibility, and corporate governance to ensure compliance and improve long-term value.
Designed to efficiently measure the environmental, social and governance performance of an organization, supply chain, or investment portfolio, our ESG health check gives you an objective snapshot of the current status of ESG management and risks, to help you move forwards on ESG effectively.
Step-by-Step ESG Audit Checklist
The "Big 4" in ESG standards generally refers to the leading, complementary frameworks: GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) for broad stakeholder impact, SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) for investor-focused financial materiality, TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) for climate risks, and CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) for environmental performance disclosure, often used together for comprehensive reporting, with newer ISSB standards gaining prominence.
Current status of ESG reporting mandates in the U.S.
ESG reporting in the U.S. currently combines voluntary guidelines with emerging mandatory regulations. While a comprehensive federal mandate is still under development, state-level regulations are increasingly shaping the reporting landscape.
The core of ESG is Environmental, Social, and Governance, but some frameworks add a fourth pillar, often Disclosure, Transparency, or even Economic Performance, to create a holistic view of a company's long-term sustainability and responsibility beyond just profits, covering planet, people, and ethical practices.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors represent a variety of risks and opportunities for Canadian companies. ESG factors include: Environmental factors: such as pollution; energy and water use; resource extraction; waste management; and climate change.
In 2025, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners received an MSCI ESG Rating of AA, marking us as a leader within our industry for managing ESG risks and opportunities.
What is ESG explained in simple terms? ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It is a framework used to evaluate a company's sustainability and ethical impact.
What are ESG key performance indicators (KPIs)? Key performance indicators (KPIs) refer to measurements used to assess an organization's overall performance. ESG KPIs, specifically, gauge performance on environmental, social, and governance topics.
The 5 Cs of audit (Criteria, Condition, Cause, Consequence, Corrective Action) are a framework for structuring clear, actionable audit findings, explaining what should be (Criteria), what is found (Condition), why it happened (Cause), what the impact is (Consequence/Effect), and how to fix it (Corrective Action/Recommendation) to drive organizational improvement and compliance.
The International Organization for Standardization defines the 7 Principles of Corporate Social Responsibility as:
“ESG is the devil,” wrote Musk on Wednesday in response to a report published in the Washington Free Beacon. The article cited Tesla's poor score upon reentering the S&P 500 sustainability index, receiving only 37 out of a maximum 100 points, versus the 84 achieved by cigarette merchant Philip Morris International.
For example, a sustainable business might aim to reduce emissions and support community growth. An ESG-aligned business would report its carbon footprint, audit its diversity metrics, and ensure its board follows ethical governance practices — all measurable indicators of progress toward sustainability.
CSR is about values. ESG is about evidence. Both aim to improve how a company affects people and the planet. But, ESG is becoming the more widely used and expected approach, especially among investors, regulators and large supply chains.
About 79% of all plastic products end up in landfills or leak into the natural environment, polluting land and oceans, with only a small fraction (around 9%) actually being recycled and 12% incinerated, highlighting a massive waste management failure and accumulation of plastic pollution globally.
Coca‑Cola is proud of its history of supporting and including the LGBTQI community in the workplace, in its advertising and in communities throughout the world.
In Canada, the financial sector is facing increasing pressure to meet mandatory Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting requirements. With new regulations implemented in 2024, companies must ensure their ESG strategies are both transparent and actionable.
Environmental, Social, and Governance are the three pillars that form the foundation of ESG. The Environmental pillar focuses on a company's impact on the planet, including issues like carbon emissions, energy use, and waste management.
Time Magazine ranks Stantec one of the world's most sustainable companies, listed top for Canadian companies.
The Ps refer to People, Planet, and Profit, also often referred to as the triple bottom line.
Conclusions. This book gives an overview of recent assessments and new developments in all the four A's: Awareness, Avoidance, Acting and Anticipation. These chapters show that indeed reconciliation between the economic and environmental goals is possible.