Reporting frameworks

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Reporting frameworks

    The ESG Management application in ServiceNow supports organizations in reporting their economic, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance using multiple sustainability reporting frameworks. It includes the ESG content accelerator application, which serves as a centralized repository for frameworks, citations, metric definitions, and emission factors, thereby accelerating the adoption of ESG reporting standards.

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    Starting with the Xanadu release, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) content accelerators are deprecated on new instances but remain supported. The ESG content accelerator application provides the current and improved experience for ESG reporting functionality.

    Key Features

    • Integration of ESG Frameworks: The application supports the GRI Standards, which help organizations transparently report on their impacts on the economy, environment, and society, and the SASB framework, which focuses on financially material sustainability information for investors.
    • Centralized Content Accelerator: Provides up-to-date frameworks, citations, emission factors, and metric definitions to streamline ESG reporting adoption.
    • Updated Citation Form: When the ESG Management application is installed, the citation form includes a new field titled Reporting requirements and recommendations. This field offers detailed guidelines on reporting obligations specified by the reporting organization.

    Reporting Guidance and Recommendations

    The citation form’s new reporting requirements field outlines specific instructions that organizations should follow, such as:

    • Reporting the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity ratio, including the organization-specific metric used for calculations.
    • Specifying types of GHG emissions included (Scope 1 direct, Scope 2 energy indirect, and/or Scope 3 other indirect) and the gases considered (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6, NF3, or all).
    • Calculating intensity ratios by dividing absolute GHG emissions by the chosen metric.
    • Separately reporting intensity ratios for Scope 3 emissions apart from Scope 1 and Scope 2.

    Additionally, to enhance transparency and comparability over time, organizations are encouraged to provide breakdowns of GHG emissions intensity ratios by business unit or facility, country, type of source, and type of activity.

    Practical Impact for ServiceNow Customers

    By utilizing the ESG Management application and its integrated content accelerator, customers can efficiently align their sustainability reporting with recognized frameworks like GRI and SASB. The enhanced citation form ensures adherence to detailed reporting requirements, improving data quality and comparability. This enables organizations to meet stakeholder expectations for transparent and credible ESG disclosures while streamlining compliance efforts within the ServiceNow platform.

    The ESG Management application uses several sustainability reporting frameworks to help organizations report their economic, environmental, social, and governance performance. The ESG content accelerator application is a centralized repository of frameworks, citations, metric definitions, and emission factors. Using this application accelerates the adoption of ESG frameworks.

    Important:

    Starting with the Xanadu release, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) content accelerator are deprecated. It will be hidden and no longer activated on new instances but will continue to be supported. The ESG content accelerator application provides the latest experience for this functionality.

    The GRI Standards enable any organization to understand and report on their impacts on the economy, environment, and people in a comparable and credible way, thereby increasing transparency on their contribution to sustainable development.

    The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) is an ESG guidance framework that sets the standards for the disclosure of financially material sustainability information by companies to their investors. SASB Standards enable businesses to identify, manage, and communicate financially material sustainability information to their investors.

    The ESG Management application is shipped with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Content Accelerator for ESG and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) content pack.

    Updates in the citation form

    When the ESG Management application is installed in the instance, the citation form displays a new field titled as Reporting requirements and recommendations in the Reporting section. This field provides the guidelines about the reporting requirements provided by the reporting organization.
    Note:
    The Reporting requirements field is displayed only when the ESG Management application is installed.
    See the following sample information that is provided by the reporting organization in the Reporting requirements field in the citation form: The reporting organization shall report the following information: a. GHG emissions intensity ratio for the organization. b. Organization-specific metric (the denominator) chosen to calculate the ratio. c. Types of GHG emissions included in the intensity ratio; whether direct (Scope 1), energy indirect (Scope 2), and/or other indirect (Scope 3). d. Gases included in the calculation; whether CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6, NF3, or all. 2.7 When compiling the information specified in Disclosure 305-4, the reporting organization shall: 2.7.1 calculate the ratio by dividing the absolute GHG emissions (the numerator) by the organization-specific metric (the denominator); 2.7.2 if reporting an intensity ratio for other indirect (Scope 3) GHG emissions, report this intensity ratio separately from the intensity ratios for direct (Scope 1) and energy indirect (Scope 2) emissions. Reporting recommendations 2.8 When compiling the information specified in Disclosure 305-4, the reporting organization should, where it aids transparency or comparability over time, provide a breakdown of the GHG emissions intensity ratio by: 2.8.1 business unit or facility; 2.8.2 country; 2.8.3 type of source; 2.8.4 type of activity.