Last Tuesday, December 19th, Cátedra de Empresa y Humanismo of the University of Valencia has been present at the Scientific Park of the University of Valencia where the launch took place Report For Good, a digital tool which allows for a diagnosis of the organization in terms of sustainability and the preparation of reports to communicate the results achieved to stakeholders.
Report For Good was born at the University of Valencia thanks to funding from the Valencian Innovation Agency - European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Program for the Valencian Community 2021-2027; with the aim of offering a gamified digital platform in WebApp format that helps companies diagnose and measure their sustainability performance, enabling the systematic creation of sustainability reports tailored to the reporting requirements of the stakeholders with whom they interact.
The event was opened with a breakfast and the subsequent intervention of Thomas Gonzalez Cruz, director of the Chair and project leader, who spoke about the university's motivations for undertaking this initiative, whose value proposition is "to shine a light on the path toward sustainability." This solution is designed for smaller companies that lack resources and tools dedicated exclusively to sustainability management. We will provide them with a tool that will easily allow them to prepare an initial report and facilitate the collection and management of information.
For its part, Paco Alvarez Molina, International Spokesperson for the Economy of the Common Good (EBC) and EBC Representative in the EFRAG working groups, gave a talk on the meaning of true sustainability and the current state of European directives in this area.
He emphasized that sustainability cannot have a single name (social, economic, or environmental) and that all companies, whether required to do so or not, must manage their performance and contribution to achieve true sustainable development.
Regarding what's happening in the EU at the directive level, Paco recalled the recent approval of the CSRD and announced that the regulatory development is nearing completion and will then be submitted to the European Parliament for approval. This process is expected to be completed by June 2024.
Another recent development was the political agreement reached between the EU Commission, the Council, and Parliament on the critical points of the CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive), a significant milestone for human rights and environmental protection in supply chains and subcontracting.
Paco emphasized the key role played by SMEs and urged them to join the sustainable movement even when it's not mandatory, as it's the way to prepare for what's coming and implement true sustainability.
Finally, he emphasized the importance of independent entities like universities promoting initiatives and solutions that help companies navigate this path, whether through tools or specialized training.
Next, Deyanira Sanchez Amézquita He demonstrated the platform which is now available in www.reportforgood.com
How to use RFG to measure and manage the sustainability of Valencian companies?
To use Report For Good, a three-step process is followed to register the company and the user.
Once you log in with the new username and password, you proceed to load the business information by answering a series of questions organized by module or functional area (human resources, finance, production, etc.)
Using the information provided, the tool calculates performance indicators in four dimensions: social and labor, environmental, ethics and governance, economic, and innovation.
The indicator system of this first version of the platform coincides with that of the Registry of Responsible Valencian Entities to facilitate companies' preparation of information and the drafting of sustainability reports, which will then allow them to request qualification from the Generalitat Valenciana.
As the company improves its information completeness, it can generate traffic-light-type monitoring reports to visualize areas of strength or need for improvement.
Once the company has completed the 100% questions, it can create a sustainability report.
This platform feature provides companies with a report template that offers a structure they can adapt to their needs.
The advantage is that it comes pre-populated with previously entered data and with the management indicators calculated and organized. The template also offers guidance on the text descriptions the company should include for each section and indicator.
Another benefit of the platform is access to a learning area. This section already includes more than ten posts with current and educational content, which is also available through the newsletter and social media.
