Internal audit planning - ESG

While social value has always been a priority within the public and social sector, ESG is about building on and more formally capturing existing social and governance initiatives while embedding environmental considerations into the decision-making.

ESG sits within a framework of non-financial factors, which, when placed at the forefront of decision making, can make a real difference to society and the environment, and is an area of working practice in which the public and social sector can lead.

Within your internal audit, ESG may be considered in different ways: from how it is embedded within the organisation, to individual projects, and as a general issue.

Organisational culture and net zero

We consider the different facets of ESG within our Horizon Scanning guide. The role of the senior management team is crucial, so understanding the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities that sit within this team is explored. We also cover net-zero targets and how these are managed as a local authority to measure progress.

From the senior team to employees with the sector, we review the impact a progressive culture of sustainability has on retaining and attracting talent and share findings from our recent survey from public sector leaders on how the ESG framework could be used when recruiting.

From people to reporting, the guide explains how the Government manages the issue of greenwashing using legislation to reduce and prevent its occurrence. We also discuss data integrity's challenge when implementing practical decarbonisation measurements and making decisions on the best course of action to reach net-zero targets.

Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

With reporting at the forefront of everyone's sustainability agenda, we highlight that only 32% of public and social sector leaders in our recent survey declared they have a reporting framework in place to track social value and ESG progress, so we cover the TCFD practice as it is an excellent example of a sustainable reporting framework and how it can drive ESG strategy and decision making.

Innovation

Finally, with so much to consider, we share top-down government initiatives through to community-based projects that are being implemented across the country. And end with the optimistic outlook that 90% of the technology needed to achieve net-zero is already available.