Maturity Guidance: Bronze, Silver, Gold

Maturity Guidance: Bronze, Silver, Gold 🏅

The ESG Pillar assessment is built around a structured three-level maturity model — Bronze, Silver, and Gold — reflecting the depth, breadth, and impact of ESG integration across an organisation. These levels are not just checkpoints; they represent distinct phases in the journey from awareness and commitment to organisational excellence and external leadership in ESG.

Together, they form a roadmap for practical progress — whether you're just beginning to embed sustainability into operations or are pushing forward into advanced supply chain stewardship and stakeholder influence.

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🟠 Bronze Level: Establishing the ESG Foundation

Bronze represents the foundational level of ESG integration. Organisations at this stage are beginning their journey — establishing clear commitments, assigning responsibilities, and starting to build the systems needed for ESG governance.

At Bronze, the emphasis is on internal practice:

• GHG reporting

• Waste and energy management

• Health and safety planning

• Ethical policy development

• Early governance engagement

Expectations focus on the creation of basic plans, pilot implementations, and the appointment of responsible roles. Organisations are not expected to have everything running yet — but they must be able to demonstrate that ESG has moved beyond theory into structured intent.

✅ Example: An organisation at Bronze might have appointed an Emissions Officer, begun staff training, and drafted an emissions reduction plan — but hasn't yet embedded these across the business.

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⚪ Silver Level: Embedding ESG into Core Operations

Silver represents a step-change in maturity. Here, organisations are expected to have embedded ESG practices across core functions, with consistent implementation and measurable results.

At Silver, the emphasis is on operational integration and ongoing performance:

• Measurable GHG reduction progress

• Regular ESG data reviews and audits

• Workforce-wide ESG training

• Evidence-based decision making on energy and water

• Ethical sourcing initiatives

• Formalised stakeholder engagement

The Silver level introduces broader interdependencies between domains (e.g. environment and governance) and expects clear evidence of impact from ESG activities. This level also begins to focus on leadership within the organisation — ESG isn't just a compliance function but a driver of improvement.

✅ Example: A Silver organisation not only reports on GHG emissions but uses the data to drive decision making, adjusts operations based on KPIs, and shares performance with stakeholders in regular ESG reviews.

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🟡 Gold Level: Leading through ESG, Across the Value Chain

Gold is the highest level of recognition and reflects a deeply embedded, externally engaged, and performance-optimised approach to ESG. At this level, organisations act as leaders and influencers, extending good practice beyond their internal boundaries to their supply chains, partners, and industry.

At Gold, the emphasis is on systemic maturity and supply chain responsibility:

• End-to-end value chain emissions analysis and management

• Active supplier assessments and ethical compliance

• Community engagement and reporting

• Board-level ESG ownership and oversight

• Use of ESG metrics in investment or innovation decisions

To reach Gold, an organisation must demonstrate consistency, transparency, and continuous improvement across all ESG domains — not only doing the right thing but setting the bar for others.

✅ Example: A Gold organisation will have ethical sourcing policies enforced through supplier contracts, water and waste metrics tied to procurement decisions, and a board actively reviewing ESG targets alongside financial results.

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Why the Levels Matter

This structured maturity system is not just a badge — it’s a strategic tool for change. It allows you to:

• Benchmark your current position

• Identify specific improvement opportunities

• Align ESG efforts with your organisation’s scale and ambition

• Progress in a way that is auditable, measurable, and externally credible

Whether your goal is to meet stakeholder expectations, satisfy regulatory demands, or become a sector leader, the ESG maturity model is designed to support that journey — one level at a time.