Page 26 - 2022 - Q2 - Minerva in Focus

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE (ESG) IN SHIPPING
ESG and Sustainability Reporting:

The GRI and SASB Standards

As it is known, Minerva Gas is working to- tory statement from the company’s
ward issuing its first ESG report, which will Chief Executive, a description of the “
provide a transparent and fact-based/ procedure followed while developing
structured disclosure of the company’s the report (e.g., metrics and terminol- In view of the absence
sustainability policies, targets, and per- ogy used, etc.), and an overview of the of a standard reporting
formance. The report will be prepared company’s Mission, Vision, and Value
in accordance with applicable reporting statements. All the above should, of procedure or model for
standards such as the Global Reporting course, be meticulously considered in sustainability principles
Initiative (GRI) and the Sustainability Ac- relation to ESG and sustainability.
counting Standards Board (SASB). Another common feature is the in the shipping industry,
manner in which topic relevance is the GRI and SASB Standards
decided, and the information to be
Comparing the GRI and SASB reporting reported is filtered. Topic relevance could serve as starting
standards is, of course, in all cases dictated
by stakeholder interest and is com- points to fill this gap.
While similar in nature, there are some key municated to the company through
differences between the GRI and SASB stand- materiality assessments and surveys ”
ards when it comes to their relevance and distributed to its key stakeholders.
applicability. In broad terms, it could be said Such surveys aim to determine how
that the GRI provides reporting Standards important the stakeholders consider
with wider stakeholder relevance, while SASB the various ESG topics in relation to the two standards is that the GRI
Standards tend to be more investor-orient- the company. provides reporting companies with
ed. However, both the GRI and SASB indica- guidance to create relevant, credible,
tors could potentially be populated using the 2. GRI and SASB’s main and reliable sustainability reports
abundant ESG-related data already being differences and is thus company-oriented. On
collected by many shipping companies. the other hand, the SASB provides in-
Although both standards make use vestors access to comparable, clear,
of the materiality assessment mech- and consistent data to make well-in-
1. GRI and SASB’s similarities anism to determine topic relevance, formed investment decisions and is
they differ slightly in the way materi- thus much more investor-oriented.
The GRI and SASB Standards require ality is applied in each case. Namely, Lastly, while both sets of standards
the reporting company to first make the GRI Standard urges organizations can be applied to public or private
general disclosures regarding its to select topics representing their organizations of any size, anywhere
corporate structure and strategic ap- most influential economic, envi- in the world, the GRI is designed to
proach to sustainability and sustaina- ronmental, and social practices in allow its use in any industry - as op-
bility reporting. Such disclosures would consultation with their stakeholders. posed to the SASB Standards, which
typically include a relevant explana- These topics could include issues are sector-specific and designed in-
with significant financial impacts on dividually for 77 separate industries.
the organization and others with a
more indirect economic impact but In view of the absence of a standard report-
significant social and environmental ing procedure or model for sustainability
influence, such as GHG, supply chain principles in the shipping industry, the GRI
practices, human rights, etc. and SASB Standards could serve as starting
In contrast, the SASB’s view of mate- points to fill this gap.
riality is based on definite financial However, throughout this effort towards
factors universally recognized by standardized ESG reporting, not only should
capital markets. Thus, the SASB each company’s specific needs and recours-
Standard focuses on ESG topics that es always be carefully considered, but cer-
are more likely to influence the fi- tain limits to the extent of disclosed infor-
nancial performance and enterprise mation should also be respected. Therefore,
by Georgina Pantositi value of the typical shipping compa- each company is encouraged to scrutinize
HSQ Administrator, ny in the long term. and tailor these guidelines to suit its sus-
Minerva Marine Inc. Another critical difference between tainable development priorities better.

26 MINERVA IN FOCUS – ISSUE 20 / Q2 2022