What is ESG software?

What ESG is for most companies

ESG refers to environmental, social and governance factors, which are the criteria used by investors, regulators and other stakeholders to evaluate a company’s impact beyond financial performance.

Environmental factors include carbon emissions, resource efficiency, climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. Social factors, on the other hand, focus on areas like employee wellbeing, community support, human rights and workplace diversity. Finally, governance emphasises ethical leadership, transparency, anti-corruption measures, board structure and compliance with legal standards.

How ESG has evolved

Once a niche concern, ESG is now a central focus for businesses due to growing stakeholder expectations, increasing regulatory demands and heightened awareness of societal, environmental and governance factors.

Today, investors demand greater transparency, consumers demand accountability and regulators enforce stricter compliance frameworks. These pressures have elevated ESG into a critical priority for companies aiming to stay relevant and responsible in a rapidly changing marketplace.

This evolution reflects a fundamental change in how businesses are evaluated – not only on financial performance but also on their ESG impacts.

Challenges companies face with ESG

Despite its growing importance, many organisations struggle to develop and manage effective ESG strategies. Common challenges include:

• evolving regulations – staying up to date with new and often complex compliance requirements can be daunting ‍
• limited expertise – a shortage of skilled ESG professionals creates difficulties in building and managing comprehensive programmes ‍
• fragmented data – gathering, organising and analysing ESG-related data from various sources often overwhelms existing systems ‍
• resource constraints – balancing ESG priorities with other business demands requires time and investment that many companies find difficult to allocate.

To address these challenges, companies need efficient tools and systems. This is where ESG software comes in.

What is ESG software?

ESG software is designed to help companies build, manage and report on their ESG and sustainability programmes. These platforms provide data collection, tracking, reporting and analysis functionalities, enabling businesses to monitor performance and make informed business decisions.

How ESG software works

Effective ESG software focuses on overall ESG management, providing tools to address every stage of the process.

The first step is creating structured ESG and sustainability programmes that address key priorities. These programmes provide a foundation for businesses to prioritise actions and set well-defined objectives aligned with internationally recognised standards.

With programmes in place, ESG software simplifies data collection by gathering information from multiple sources, ensuring consistent and reliable performance tracking. This data allows businesses to generate actionable insights, identify strengths, address weaknesses and improve outcomes over time.

Finally, companies use ESG software to streamline reporting. By leveraging data from these programmes, businesses can produce transparent and detailed reports that comply with regulatory requirements and meet stakeholder expectations, completing the process of effective ESG management.

Some platforms – like Speeki – also offer embedded frameworks that guide users through the entire process of building, managing and reporting on ESG programmes, ensuring consistency and long-term success.

Investing in ESG software enables organisations to advance their sustainability initiatives by streamlining programme management, centralising data collection and automating reporting. These tools help businesses address growing stakeholder expectations, comply with regulatory requirements and align their operations with sustainability goals.

In addition to supporting sustainability efforts, ESG software delivers broader business benefits. It helps organisations build credibility, foster transparency and enhance trust with key stakeholders. These improvements strengthen a company’s reputation and contribute to its long-term success in an ESG-conscious marketplace.

Speeki offers a comprehensive, all-in-one sustainability management system designed to help organisations build, track and manage programmes across no less than 20 key ESG areas.

The platform enables you to establish effective ESG programmes and meet reporting requirements with ease. With integrated AI technology, Speeki assists with documentation, analysis and reporting, enabling faster and more accurate programme completion.

How Speeki’s sustainability management system can support your ESG initiatives

• Centralised ESG management – document, track and report on your ESG programme in one place ‍
• Enhanced reporting – build a high-quality dataset with generative AI for easy reporting ‍
• Standards alignment – build once and disclose multiple times across frameworks such as ESRS (CSRD), IFRS (S1 and S2), GRI, TCFD and more, simplifying global compliance ‍
• Efficiency tools – leverage tools like surveys, disclosure aids, communication resources, training modules and due diligence tools

How Speeki stands out in the ESG software market

Speeki is a platform built on decades of expertise and innovation. Backed by a team with over 20 years of experience in ESG and compliance, Speeki delivers a unique approach to sustainability management that blends deep industry knowledge with advanced technology.

At the core of what makes Speeki stand out is its proprietary ESG risk model and the Speeki Engage® framework. This framework simplifies ESG programme management by providing a consistent and intuitive process for building, tracking and reporting across all ESG topics, ensuring alignment with global standards.

Speeki’s flexible and scalable platform supports businesses of all sizes, making it a trusted partner for addressing ESG and sustainability challenges with confidence and precision.