What to Include: Policies, Metrics, Disclosures, and Commitments

When completing your ESG Pathway assessment — especially at Silver or Gold levels — it’s not just about what your organisation does. It’s also about what you can show. Maturity is demonstrated through the strength and visibility of your actions, backed by clear supporting inputs.

This page outlines the four main types of inputs to include — and what they typically look like across Environmental, Social, and Governance domains.

The Four Input Types 🧩

You can support your answers using the following categories:

  • Policies Formal documents that establish ESG intent, scope, and governance. Examples include: environmental policies, health and safety policies, anti-bribery statements.

  • Metrics Quantitative measures that reflect ESG performance. Examples include: greenhouse gas emissions, training hours, incident rates, waste intensity.

  • Disclosures Internal or external reports showing ESG performance or progress. Examples include: SECR reports, DEI dashboards, ESG summaries in annual reports.

  • Commitments Public or internal targets that indicate your forward plans or aspirations. Examples include: net zero pledges, ISO certification plans, social value goals.

Environmental Examples

  • Policies: Energy management policy, waste reduction policy, environmental responsibility statement.

  • Metrics: Scope 1–3 GHG emissions, energy use per employee, percentage of renewable energy used.

  • Disclosures: SECR submissions, internal carbon reports, energy audits or site reviews.

  • Commitments: Net zero targets, ISO 14001 implementation plan, energy reduction commitments.

Social Examples

  • Policies: Diversity and inclusion policy, safeguarding procedures, modern slavery statement.

  • Metrics: Lost time injury rate, mental health training completion, community hours logged.

  • Disclosures: Internal wellbeing survey results, published DEI statistics, stakeholder feedback summaries.

  • Commitments: Living wage accreditation, social value pledges, workforce development targets.

Governance Examples

  • Policies: ESG governance framework, whistleblower protection policy, anti-corruption code.

  • Metrics: ESG board-level KPIs, audit completion rates, training compliance metrics.

  • Disclosures: ESG sections in annual reports, governance reports aligned with TCFD, audit summaries.

  • Commitments: Adoption of ISO 37001 (anti-bribery), joining the UN Global Compact, ESG risk review integration in board agendas.

How to Use This Guidance

  • When completing a question, consider whether your response is backed by at least one of the four input types above.

  • At Bronze level, informal evidence or early-stage material may be acceptable. At Silver and Gold, more formal, dated, and attributed documentation is expected.

  • Where possible, upload documents directly into the platform or reference where they can be found.

  • Use the comment section to explain any context, especially if your evidence is developing or non-standard.

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