How to navigate your bank's ESG questionnaire: Tips and background for companies

|  June 19, 2023

🕓 Reading time 4 minutes

Table of contents

1. Background and purpose of the ESG questionnaire

2. What is required for the ESG score?

3. Contact your bank for clarification and support with the ESG questionnaire

4. Our offer to support you with your ESG questionnaire

1. Background and purpose of the ESG questionnaire

ESG factors are playing an increasingly important role in the financial world. Banks are already integrating these criteria into their lending processes by requesting the ESG score, or will do so by 2024 at the latest. Companies are suddenly and often unprepared to face the Querying sustainability data via a questionnaire confronted.

The background to this is new European lending guidelines. These are intended to ensure that the impact of loans on sustainability and related environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors are taken into account.

The underlying ESG criteria for reporting the ESG score include environmental factors such as climate change and resource management, social factors such as human rights and working conditions, and governance factors such as corporate governance and ethical behavior. The questionnaire is led by Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. In addition, there are other specific indicators, such as environmental tax or gender pay gap, but depending on the bank, qualitative risk analyses in all three areas are also included.

The questionnaire allows the bank to assess your company's sustainability risks and sustainability performance. The reporting ultimately reflects your current situation and can also help you reflect on, refine, and position your own sustainability strategy within management. Reporting on the ESG questionnaire therefore also offers opportunities to identify risks in current corporate management at an early stage and to address questions about sustainability preferences and the future development of your products and services.

2. What is required for the ESG score?

A company's ESG score is comprised of various factors that assess its sustainability performance. It includes reporting on ESG practices and targets, taking into account specific environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.

Environment | Environment

usually include

• greenhouse gas emissions beyond Scope 1, 2 and 3
• the use of water
• environmental taxes
• an analysis of environmental risks

Social | Social

usually include

• the share of marginal employment and temporary work
• the gender pay gap
• an analysis of social risks

Governance | Corporate Management

usually include

• an analysis of the risks in Management and compliance with laws

3. Contact your bank for clarification and support regarding the ESG score

If you have any questions about ESG questionnaire and are unsure how to provide certain information for the query, do not hesitate to contact your bank. Many savings banks, for example, provide Sustainability network Partners who will support you in compiling the ESG questionnaire and collecting the specific information for the ESG score.

We ourselves are, among others, a network partner of Sparkasse Böblingen. Furthermore, we are happy to support other companies that need support in ESG questionnaire another savings bank or bank.

4. Our offer to support you with your ESG questionnaire

We at Green Vision Solutions are happy to support you in Scope 1, 2 and 3 survey or even fully support you in the reporting for your ESG questionnaire. As a network partner of various savings banks, we have built up expertise on the topic of ESG scores through close collaboration.

Start This usually involves collecting Scope 1, 2 and 3 data Emissions figures by a Corporate Carbon Footprint at Green Vision Solutions. This will be used for the ESG questionnaire required in any case. We provide a simple and secure process for this via our TÜV-certified software+service method. If you already have your emissions figures and only need support with the other areas of the ESG score, we would be happy to check whether we can provide you with individual support in this case as well.

Parallel to calculate your Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions for the ESG questionnaire, we will guide you through one or two Online meetings through the additional required points for the questionnaire. You probably already have the data for some of the indicators from the survey and can calculate them together directly. For example, for the gender pay gap, the mean gross earnings broken down by men and women and their percentage deviation are used. We collect the required raw data and calculate the indicators to be entered. If qualitative risk analyses for ecological, social, and governance risks are requested, we are happy to discuss the required information with you and formulate the free-form risk assessment for you. It is advisable to focus on your sustainability preferences and highlight the key sustainability areas for your company.

If we work with you, we'll be happy to provide you with a certificate for your bank. This confirms that you've successfully started the project within the agreed scope and when the results can be expected. In many cases, this can expedite the loan process.