Investors are increasingly aware of how sustainability affects long-term value of companies in which they are invested,” says Barbara Pleban of OneMulti, the Global ESG Monitor’s regional partner in Poland. “Business today is based on trust and requires transparency like never before. With this inaugural ESG transparency scoring of major Polish companies, we hope to set a baseline for ESG disclosure that will steadily improve in future years.”

Poland in penultimate place

With a score of 51 out of 100 possible points, the WIG 20 ranks penultimate in the total ranking of all 10 indices examined. The spectrum ranges from an average score of 68 for the DAX via 66 points for the EUROSTOXX to 41 points for the BET 20. When measured against the all indices average of 55 points, the WIG 20 is still 4 points below overall average.

A good climate for ESG

Overall, the climate topic is frequently addressed by Polish companies. On a high note, 100% of companies examined identify the main sources of carbon emissions and report on relevant greenhouse gas emissions. However, a quarter of WIG 20 companies fail to disclose targets and timelines for reducing emissions, and their sustainability strategies often lack crucial details such as how they arrived at such strategies and until when exactly they will be implemented.

Insignificant significance analysis

In some cases, the materiality analysis rather seems to be a fruitless exercise than a strategic tool. Eight out of ten WIG 20 companies (80%) report having conducted a materiality analysis. Although a relatively large number of companies provide background information on the process (e.g., 60% name the specific year of data collection and describe how they collected the data – significantly more than companies from the other indices), there is little information on the importance and role of stakeholders.

“We emphasize the stakeholder engagement process as an important strategic foundation”, says Ariane Hofstetter, the GEM’s Co-Founder and Head of Research and Data Science. “Stakeholder engagement is what makes it possible for companies to give their stakeholders the information they need to make a decision about the nature and extent of their interaction with the company.”

Weak supply chain disclosures

Most Polish companies also score poorly when it comes to disclosures on their supply chains. A very high 70% of Polish companies do not report on risks related to their supply chains, a metric significantly worse than all other indices examined by the GEM. Likewise, just 40% report on the risks of child labor in their company operations, and only 30% describe an evaluation process for determining human rights violations among suppliers.

A positive aspect

One bright spot is that around 7 in 10 companies report a management system for health and safety at their workplace, and 65% report concrete figures regarding the number and rate of work-related injuries.

ESG reports from Polish companies are quite comprehensive, ranking second among the global indices in terms of the average size of their separate sustainability reports (S-NFR). However, comprehensiveness did not translate into transparency in all cases.

“Compared to their counterparts in the EURO STOXX index, Polish companies must make significant improvements in communicating what they are doing when it comes to sustainability, corporate governance and more,” said Michael Diegelmann, co-founder of the GEM. “GEM data is an invaluable tool for companies to learn from peers and better understand their own sustainability performance.”

Contacts:

Global ESG Monitor: Michael Diegelmann, michael.diegelmann@globalESGmonitor.com +49 61120585512
Global ESG Monitor: Ariane Hofstetter, ariane.hofstetter@globalESGmonitor.com +49 61120585518
GEM Regional Partner Poland: Jakub Zaryński, One Multi, Jakub.zarynski@onemulti.pl +48 606107050

For more information on the Global ESG Monitor 2022 Transparency Report, visit:
https://globalesgmonitor.com

About the Global ESG Monitor

The Global ESG Monitor (GEM) is a unique research initiative to examine transparency in non-financial reporting of the largest companies in the world. The GEM monitors, analyzes and reports on the transparency of non-financial ESG reporting using the GEM ASSAY^TM, a proprietary research tool adapted annually in response to evolving conditions and developments. 

The operationalization of transparency underlying the GEM ASSAY^TM is based on the relevant guidelines of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), ISO Standard 26000, World Economic Forum (WEF) and Accountability and Transparency, 2010a. 

The Global ESG Monitor is headquartered in Wiesbaden (Frankfurt), Germany with partner offices in Washington, DC; Melbourne, Australia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Hong Kong; Warsaw, Poland and Bucharest, Romania.

About OneMulti

OneMulti is a strategic communications and sustainability consulting company. Besides developing communication strategies and consulting in the areas of sustainability, it carries out tasks in the fields of public relations, analytics, event and content marketing and social media. It is a member of the UN Global Compact and the exclusive Polish partner of the Global ESG Monitor project. The company’s portfolio includes more than 1,000 projects focused on creating awareness, interest and supporting various stages of the decision-making process. These include both business-to-consumer and business-to-business areas. OneMulti has been operating on the Polish market since 1990. It is a member of the Public Relations Global Network, the Polish Alternative Fuels Association and the Association of Public Relations Firms. Analytical services are provided by the agency’s InsightOut Lab team.