Context

The past decade bore witness to a seismic shift in the realm of Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) reporting, paving the way for the emergence of Handprint. Robust ESG reporting gained momentum due to two powerful catalysts. On one front, a diverse chorus demanded authentic corporate leadership, urging companies to combat greenhouse gas emissions and protect vulnerable communities. Simultaneously, customers, employees, and shareholders expressed dissatisfaction as a series of unsettling scandals involving multinational corporations highlighted rampant misinformation and greenwashing.

Instances abounded. Chemical companies were using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to perpetuate the myth of universal household recycling, while knowing that millions of tons of “to-be-recycled” plastic were actually being dumped in the ocean. Energy giants were investing millions in deceptive “CSR” campaigns promoting “clean coal” and climate scepticism. A stark truth emerged: the mere label of “CSR spending” fell short of guaranteeing authentic environmental action. Increasingly, CSR was being manipulated to mask profit-seeking agendas and pro-pollution lobbying by influential transnational entities.

The Response

Academics, accountants, and policymakers joined forces, driven to understand how companies allocated their freshly designated corporate social responsibility budgets. Collaborating with global activist investors, they forged a new path – ESG, surpassing the boundaries of traditional CSR. ESG rested on robust reporting guidelines and mandated disclosures, equipping companies to tangibly showcase real-world outcomes.

How Can Businesses Translate ESG Strategy into Tangible Actions?

Today, Handprint stands as a guiding light, steering companies toward regeneration as a groundbreaking approach to translating ESG initiatives into tangible, positive real-world impacts. What sets Handprint apart is its unique ability to engage stakeholders and quantifiably track impact while seamlessly aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

While engagement has been discussed in prior posts, this article delves deeper into how Handprint embodies clients’ ESG efforts within an auditable impact trail, finely tuned for impeccable ESG reporting.

How does Handprint achieve an auditable impact trial?

Handprint meticulously handpicks and assesses each impact project connecting with clients across the platform. This assessment entails evaluating how primary activities’ outcomes align with sustainability goal metrics. The journey begins with the primary impact unit sponsored on the platform (e.g., planting a baby mangrove or installing a coral reef star) and extends to complementary activities contributing to impact achievement (e.g., establishing and staffing a community nursery or organizing volunteer programs for reef protection).

Subsequently, Handprint provides evidence of fund delivery, spotlighting the precise juncture at which clients’ sponsorship funds reach intended partners at grassroots level. This transparency not only underscores the platform’s “impact ratio” (92% of sponsorship funds reaching impact partners directly) but also instills unwavering client confidence, assuring them of destination, timing, and minimal loss due to cross-border transaction fees.

Handprint’s impact partners play a pivotal role by furnishing the platform with Quantified Impact Reports (QIPs). These offer regular data-driven insights into the number of impact units delivered within local communities. Leveraging a transparent FIFO (First In, First Out) mechanism, these QIPs are equitably distributed to all sponsoring clients, empowering them to meticulously trace their impact journey from inception to the pivotal moment their support culminates in tangible real-world regeneration.

How is the Impact Quantified and Reported?

Handprint meticulously translates clients’ collective positive regenerative actions into equivalent measures covering carbon impacts, ecosystem service values, habitat gains, and social impact metrics. These invaluable equivalencies allow clients to quantify their positive impact and see their handprint grow, making it easy peasy to embed them in their ESG reporting. 

By orchestrating these steps with authenticity, transparency, and compassion for the partners working each day in the field, Handprint not only delivers a peerless ESG impact and reporting solution but also reshapes our comprehension of corporate responsibility and its role in shaping a sustainable future. Handprint’s auditable impact trail stands as a testament to the metamorphosis of ESG reporting, ushering in an era where actions resonate more than words and impact speaks louder than intentions.

Revolutionizing ESG Reporting

ESG or Sustainability Reports tend to be published on a yearly basis. Handprint has talked to hundreds of CEOs and Chief Sustainability Officers to understand the reasoning behind this. All of them mentioned that they lack visibility on their positive impact, and need to wait at least for a quarterly report on impact data collection,  making it almost impossible for them to improve the frequency of sustainability reports. 

With Handprint’s Subscription, companies can enjoy trust through transparency and verification, improve the quality and frequency of sustainability reports and the frequency of impact collection – all through automations, visualizations and detailed accounting. 

Ready to revolutionize your own ESG reporting? Talk to us!