The ESG Measurement Framework User Guide for Entrepreneurs

The Framework: What is it?

The ESG Measurement Framework is a tool for businesses to understand the key pillars of ESG, measure their ESG performance today, and identify areas for improvement.

The framework is a simple spreadsheet that will ask entrepreneurs to provide information on their company, responding wherever possible to 48 questions in order to create an ESG score.

The framework has been designed to be used by any early-stage company from Seed through to Growth stage, across B2B and B2C sectors. It is based upon the principles of the Social Value Portal National TOMs and incorporates learnings from the UN SDGs, B Corp and SASB.

FAQs for Entrepreneurs

How do I complete the framework?

• You’ll see that the main questionnaire is a simple list of 48 qualitative and quantitative metrics for you to respond to.
• We’ve provided guidance for questions that we feel need a bit of explaining, which you’ll find in column H.

How long should I spend doing this?

• We expect a submission to take between 1-4 hours based upon the stage and maturity of the business.
• If completing the framework seems to be taking longer, then we’d suggest you skip questions that are taking a substantial amount of time to respond to.

What happens if I can’t answer some of the questions?

• You don’t need to provide data on every metric - you can either leave a question blank, respond ‘no’ or identify areas that you’d like to tackle in the next 12 months.
• For certain questions, such as metrics on supply chains, you’re able to select that this data is not relevant to your business. You won’t be penalised for this and it will be factored into your weighted score.
• If you can’t respond to a question, but it is an area you’d like to consider, select that option in the framework, and this will feed into your list of actions in the dashboard.

Which person in my company should be completing this?