ENGAGE 2023: The Sustainability Reporting and Communications Sessions

Event Date: 25/01/2023 1:00 pm

Hosted during edie’s third annual Engagement Week, this online event offers up an afternoon of live, interactive webinar presentations and discussions – all dedicated to helping sustainability, ESG and communications professionals understand the everchanging sustainability reporting landscape and drive stakeholder engagement to accelerate climate action.

The way sustainability and net-zero progress is reported and communicated has radically changed. Changing regulation and standardisation is making for an increasingly complex non-financial reporting landscape. Meanwhile, investors, customers and society are applying increasing pressure on businesses to present sustainability data in coherent, engaging formats which avoid greenwashing.

edie’s ENGAGE 2023 online event effectively combines three webinars into a single afternoon, with each session taking a particular format. The first will take the form of an audience-led Q&A; the second will be a series of quick-fire case studies; and the third will take a ‘masterclass’ format.

Registrants will get access to all three webinar sessions on the day. Full details of the three Sustainability Reporting and Communications Sessions are as follows:

1) Climate reporting Q&A: Shaping your disclosure strategy in 2023 (13:00 – 13:45)

Kicking off our online event, a selection of reporting and disclosure experts discuss the key trends, regulations and standardisation developments shaping sustainability reporting this year, with specific guidance and advice for businesses seeking to generate quality, comparable, and transparent sustainability data.

Discussion points:

• Mandatory climate disclosure: Are you prepared?
• TCFD, TNFD and climate disclosures: Bridging the investment gap
• Reporting frameworks and standards: How the landscape is changing
• Data collection and dissemination: Top tips to drive meaningful change

Speakers:

• Matt Mace, Content Editor, edie (chair)
• Sue Armstrong Brown, Global Director of Environmental Impact and Thought Leadership, CDP
• Jennifer Motles, Chief Sustainability Officer, Philip Morris International (PMI)
• Jeremy Mathieu, Head of Sustainability, ITV

2) The Communications Power Hour: Best-practice case studies to drive engagement and change behaviours (14:00-15:00)

Our second session offers up a series of never-before-seen, quick-fire case studies, hearing from some of the organisations that are unleashing the power of purpose to engage key stakeholders, spark behaviour change and drive meaningful change – all while avoiding greenwash.

Discussion points:

• From greenwash to greenhush: Striking the right balance with your sustainability communications
• Building stronger relationships through transparency
• Taking a purpose-led approach to your reporting and communications, and measuring the impacts

Speakers:

• Sarah George, Senior Reporter, edie (chair)
• Simon Dawes, Head of Sustainable Business Strategy, Environment Agency
• Anna Bartle, Regional lead for citizenship and sustainability, Estée Lauder Companies UK & Ireland
• Anne Hayes, Director of Sectors and Standards, BSI Knowledge Solutions

3) 45-minute masterclass: Making your sustainability data meaningful, comparable and transparent (15:15-16:00)

Our third and final session will equip you with specific tools and practical techniques to collect sustainability data and present it in ways that maximise engagement and impacts. From data collection systems to reporting standards and assurance – this masterclass-style session has it covered.

Discussion points:

• Data collection: Cutting through the complexity
• Using sustainability data to shape short-, medium- and long-term business strategies
• Trust and transparency: Driving meaningful engagement in the age of disinformation

Speakers:

• Sarah George, Senior Reporter, edie (chair)
• Sarah Webster, Director of Sustainable Business, Britvic
• Natalie Wilkinson, Head of Responsibility, NG Bailey