Ecodesk has today launched ESG Lead, a new tailor-made software tool for the food industry to boost ethical and sustainable impact in supply chains. Backed by BRCGS, ESG Lead is designed to empower food businesses of all sizes to evaluate and improve their impact, market positioning, and bottom line. ESG Lead recommends achievable targets tailored to individual business profiles and user roles and then curates action plans to deliver these.
With retailers, stakeholders, and consumers demanding more transparency from businesses about their environmental, social and governance maturity, the capability to clearly demonstrate responsible business practices has never been more important.
Supporting the industry in reaching Net Zero
ESG Lead provides a framework which will be supportive of the Net Zero Retailer Collaborative Action initiative by allowing every level of the food supply chain to put together credible action plans through tailored guidance. Moreover, it will play a key role in supporting retailers and buyers to track their scope 3 emissions, something that has historically been difficult to achieve.
As compliance guidelines in ESG continue to evolve, getting ahead of incoming legislative and regulatory change will be crucial for businesses to build resilience in a fast-paced industry. As such, ESG Lead will give food manufacturers the opportunity to reach future ESG targets years ahead of schedule. Verification of performance data is also in the pipeline and will become a key feature of the software.
Damien Smith, CEO of Ecodesk comments: “Demonstrating responsible business practices across the food supply chain has become a must for retailers and consumers, which means transparency and resilience are more crucial than ever before. Until recently, harnessing ESG best practices has felt overwhelming and laborious, and as a result, it hasn’t been treated with the importance it deserves, something that ESG Lead will resolve.”
He continues: “By evaluating and reporting your businesses’ current performance, you can be several steps ahead, bettering the business commercially, socially, and environmentally. We look forward to working with all who adopt ESG Lead on their journey to a more sustainable future.”
How ESG Lead works
ESG Lead enables every site within an organisation1 to deliver and share its specific targets, action plans and ESG performance with its key business stakeholders:
Personalisation: Once information has been entered about an 1organisation’s performance and targets have been established, ESG Lead will deliver curated targets and guidance to build a robust and lasting responsible business framework.
Set and measure commitment: This business framework will then empower users to define a business’s future whilst tracking and measuring ESG progress.
Progress: Users can access expert guidance on actions and processes so businesses can consistently continue to improve.
Report: Users can share reports and progress tailored to every type of stakeholder – from customers to investors.
Invite: Improve at scale by inviting the business value chain to participate and enable measurement of ESG impact across the food industry.
Mike Wilson, Senior Vice President LGC ASSURE, said: “There is a growing recognition throughout the food supply chain that all stakeholders, whether clients or customers, are starting to demand more information when it comes to ESG credentials. ESG Lead has been developed in response to this, and will act as a solution to the shortfalls that exist in products currently on the market.”
Mike continues: “As part of LGC ASSURE, a leading provider of assurance services aimed at improving consumer protection and driving brand reputation, BRCGS has backed this project with the confidence that it will help suppliers reach their ESG targets in a more streamlined manner, simply by focusing on the three pillars of sustainability: People; Profit and Planet.”
Simple and affordable, ESG Lead measures ESG performance at a fraction of the time and cost of employing an ESG consultancy.
