An integrated ESG readiness evaluation and reporting methodology

Green financial products like green portfolios, funds, and bonds have almost become synonymous with sustainable development. Respectively, reporting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria performance is becoming more significant for companies and the financial market. Although many reporting methodologies exist, an integrated and standardised framework for assessing SMEs' performance on ESG criteria is lacking. This issue has raised criticism and discordance in the scientific and financial community regarding the impartiality and integrity of the published ESG reports, uncertainty to investors and allowed greenwashing phenomena. The present manuscript proposes an ESG benchmarking and readiness methodology based on a holistic approach, considering all the main aspects of market needs. Through the methodology, companies can assess their alignment with ESG criteria based on major international standards. The methodology can be the basis of implementing an online tool that will be able to provide a first-tier qualitative ESG rating within a brief self-assessment questionnaire.