ESG Essentials

More companies are having to report their performance on key environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics. This is to demonstrate that they are measuring and reducing their negative impacts on society. This page contains information about ESG factors and support for members that want to start reporting on them.

What is ESG?

‘ESG’ is the collective term for the environmental, social, and governance factors that a company has an impact on. Where business reporting has historically been focussed on financial performance, ESG reporting is becoming commonplace to encourage corporations to reduce their negative impact on society.

Governments and regulators are taking steps to standardise ESG reporting, putting the emphasis on tracking tangible results and measurable progress.

Find out more about ESG from Dr Marc Lepere, lead in ESG and Sustainability at King’s College London, and co-founder of Omnevue.

What are others already doing?

Through 2023, the BVRLA ran a pilot programme with members and Omnevue, granting SME members access to Omnevue’s ESG service.

In time, the BVRLA will be able to form an aggregated view of how companies across vehicle rental, leasing, fleet management and broker are performing.

Indicative results from the 2023 pilot (small sample) show the vehicle leasing and rental sector:

Is BETTER than the norm regarding the salary gap between senior management and operational workers.
Spends BELOW industry benchmarks on industry training per employee.
Has WORSE gender diversity in boardrooms versus industry benchmarks.
Records most of its emissions as ‘Scope 3’. Examples of Scope 3 emissions include leased assets, transportation and distribution of products, and investments.

What is the BVRLA doing?

The BVRLA is helping members get up to speed with ESG reporting. In doing so, members can demonstrate to key stakeholders that they are operating in a fair, sustainable, and efficient way.

Here are some of the actions the BVRLA is taking to support members:

Engaging with policy makers to see our sector's views considered in regulations and reporting requirements.
Giving members a platform to workshop solutions via the ESG Working Group (contact [email protected]).
Partnering with specialist reporting platform, Omnevue, offering members a discounted rate.
Digging into the latest developments as part of our member engagement and events programmes.

ESG will be a regular feature of the Compliance forum agenda, and featured across the Fleets in Charge, Industry Outlook and webinar calendars.

Learning from each other

ESG reporting is uncharted territory for most firms. Financial accounting is embedded within a company’s ways of working from day one. Companies are now having to find a way to incorporate ESG alongside those processes and systems.

Doing so correctly does not present a universal solution. A company’s size, structure and sustainability agenda will shape how ESG is embedded and how results are presented.

Here, BVRLA members can share their reports and demonstrate the progress they’ve made, allowing others to follow their lead while taking some pointers of their own.