Sustainability Report Writing

Corporate Sustainability and ESG Reporting

I support corporations preparing their annual sustainability reports. I have worked on 10+ ESG reports as the lead copywriter or copyeditor either directly with reporting companies or through consultancies working with large corporations.

My expertise blends highly effective corporate communication skills with an in-depth knowledge of corporate sustainability policy, trends and reporting standards and frameworks. I write reports both to engage multi-stakeholder audiences and provide high-quality, standards-aligned disclosures into a company's sustainability management details.

In terms of industries, I’ve supported annual ESG reporting projects for clients in the steel manufacturing, building supplies and retail, commercial real estate, rail equipment, financial services and IT sectors. I'm available to work on sustainability reports for any industry, except companies involved in producing or distributing fossil fuels.

Here are more details about my reporting project process and rates:

Reporting project Steps

• Reporting timeline: The duration of reporting projects depends on the client's internal review process and target publication date. Typically copywriting engagements begin three to four months prior to the publication date. The general timeline for projects is agreed on prior to entering an engagement.

• Report contents: Most annual sustainability reports include some or all the following components:

  • Standard project elements include: Table of contents, executive letter, value chain overview, sustainability strategy overview, stakeholder assessment and engagement, materiality assessment, material topics list, sustainability governance and board overview, risk management approach, overview of significance of material ESG topics (including impact, risk and opportunities perspectives), management approach of material ESG topics (qualitative data), targets and metrics of ESG material topics including a description of measurement methodologies (quantitative data), activities completed in the reporting period, and changes to methodologies or restatements of information in the reporting period.

  • Optional elements include: Content indices, stakeholder interviews and project case studies.

• Reporting teams: I have worked both with reporting consultancies and directly with reporting companies. For reporting projects, I have worked with an advisor and project manager as well as the company's sustainability report lead contact. Alternatively, I have also worked directly with chief sustainability officers and managers to prepare reports. In the absence of consultancy support, I provide light project management as part of a standard reporting project.

• Reporting plan and information delivery: Typically, the reporting process includes a kick-off meeting with a review of the report outline and information gaps. I work with the client to prepare a detailed plan identifying sections to newly develop, refresh or reduce in length from past reports. For new reports, all sections are labeled as sections to newly develop. Next, the client delivers the internal company information for the reported sections in their preferred platform or format.

• Optional report concept: For clients lacking a strategic direction for their report, I can provide benchmarking and report road mapping services to develop the report concept prior to the report drafting period. This differs from the standard reporting plan in depth and level of comparative analysis to other companies’ reporting practices. *This is an optional add-on to my standard project fee.

• Optional case studies and interviews: While most reporting is shifting more towards a compliance exercise with detailed content requirements from mandatory standards, some companies prefer to include stakeholder perspectives, project case studies and other creative report elements to showcase their sustainability programs and initiatives. *This is an optional add-on to my standard project fee.

• Drafting and client review periods: I prefer to work with alternating drafting and review periods, for version control. This tends to work better than simultaneous reviews and drafting from both the client and the copywriter. I develop each draft based on client input and make iterative improvements by incorporating feedback from the client review periods. Open questions are resolved using the commenting pane of the drafting platform.

• Optional content indices: Many clients prefer to develop their content indices in-house, but some request me to either review or draft their content indices for alignment with sustainability frameworks and standards. *This is an optional add-on to my standard project fee.

• Text design: While text design is not included in my services, I can help clients identify a suitable designer for their report. Prior to the final proofread, the report draft should be delivered to the design team and formatted. During this period, the report drafting is paused. *This is not included in my services and must be outsourced or assigned to an in-house team.

• Final proofread: Reporting projects include a final proofread for mechanics, style consistency and accuracy in word choice and spelling.

• Publication: Clients publish their report and promote it on in their social channels when they have received all of their internal approvals from board and C-suite reviewers. *This is not included in my services.

My Unique approach to reporting

• Brand voice and messaging: I include a detailed on-boarding questionnaire to ensure adherence to the brand voice and identity, targeting my clients' key stakeholders as the audience. When preferred, a report theme may also be woven through the contents of the draft.

• Project management: Sustainability report writing is a collaborative process requiring significant coordination with the organization’s team. I work effectively with an organization’s key team members to meet internal deadlines and goals.

• Strategic disclosure: As most companies know, disclosure is an art, not a science. I work with companies to promote information-rich transparency into their sustainability activities, but I understand the balance of detail and concise presentation is always an issue to work through. I bring experience and approaches gleaned from across a wide range of industries to help inform the report presentation.

My reporting services do not include:

• Materiality analysis, sustainability strategy planning or program implementation.

• Design, image acquisition, or infographic development.

• Uploading the content to your website or other publication activities.

Reporting project Rates and Engagement

• Project fee: All of my reporting projects are billed using a total project fee, which I propose at the start of a client engagement. All proposals include a scope of work containing and overview of the agreement and timeline. Details of the scope of work may be developed either by me or the consultancy who hires me.

• Project rates: Project rates average approximately USD 12,000 or EUR 11,000, depending on the target length and scope of the report, including considerations into the level of reporting development and any optional add-ons as listed above.

  Rates also vary for first-time reports, or first-time alignment with new standards.

  Please share the target length of the report when reaching out, and the reporting goals, including details about how many reports have been produced in the past and how this report will differ from past years’ reports.

• Project billing: Project rates can be billed either with a 50% deposit and final invoice, or in monthly milestones for projects lasting longer than 3 months. I work with global companies and can bill in the following currencies USD, EUR or GBP.

👉 Schedule a discovery call to learn more about my rates and process.

Climate Risk Reporting

Since its creation in 2015, the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) has had a significant impact around the world. Many central banks are adopting TCFD reporting requirements to shield the global economic system from climate-related financial instability.

I support businesses in presenting their climate risk and opportunities reporting in alignment with ESRS E1 (climate change), IFRS S2, TCFD and the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard. Sometimes companies prefer to include this information in reports separate from their standard annual sustainability report.

In 2022, I earned my Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR®) certificate, which covers climate risk transmission, management, reporting, scenario analysis, and other key topics relevant to today’s evolving world of sustainable finance.

I received scores in the highest quartile for five of the seven subjects tested. This subject matter expertise serves me well in my reporting, as I understand exactly what investors and regulators are looking for within a climate risk report.

In addition, I can support additional reporting requirements for CSRD, such as:

• Transition plans

• Climate strategy and policies

• Carbon pricing

👉 Schedule a discovery call to learn more about my rates and process.