Where can I find a template for a transformative ESG strategy and report?
Against the Grain Q&As
A New Paradigm in CSR and ESG Reporting: Building National Resilience
“The only social responsibility corporate executives have is to
make as much money for their stockholders as possible.”
Milton Friedman, 1970
“Only a crisis — actual or perceived — produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.”
Milton Friedman, 1982
“The most effective place within a complex system where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything is to transcend the paradigms of the system.”
Donella Meadows, 1997
This CSR and ESG template represents a fundamental shift from traditional CSR and ESG reporting and how a company views corporate responsibility. The template recognizes that the challenges facing our world—from climate change to economic instability to social inequality—require more than incremental improvements or compliance-based approaches. Instead, this ESG report template demonstrates a corporate commitment to driving systemic change and building resilience at both a regional and national level. It encourages companies to think deeply about their impacts and opportunities for transformation, while still providing context for traditional ESG metrics. The structure allows for both high-level strategic thinking and detailed reporting on specific initiatives and metrics.
The template is structured around the concept of leverage points, as articulated by systems thinker Donella Meadows. The template focusses particularly on the highest leverage points: shifting mindsets and transcending existing paradigms. The goal is not just to improve a company’s sustainability, but to catalyze transformative change across the company’s industry and the wider society.
The template continues to report on traditional ESG metrics, but these metrics are placed within the context of broader systemic impacts and the organization’s contribution to national resilience. The template posits that by focusing on long-term resilience, the organization not only secures their own future but also contributes to making the nation within which the organization is domiciled more attractive for investment because that nation is more capable of weathering future shocks.
This approach requires the organization to balance short-term business imperatives with long-term societal needs, to engage deeply with stakeholders in reimagining systems, and to look beyond business operations to a role in broader ecological and social systems.
The business is encouraged to invite their stakeholders to join them on a journey of transformation. Use the following template to help shift your organization’s focus from the myopic emissions metric to systemic resilience.
I. Corporate Profile and Resilience Vision
A. Company overview and current business model
[Brief description of the company, its products/services, and current business model]
B. Long-term resilience vision and strategy
Our long-term vision is to become a net-positive force for resilience in our country and the world. We aim to:
Work in partnership with rural communities to regenerate the natural systems on which our business depends
Empower the communities we serve to thrive in the face of change
Catalyze a shift towards a circular, regenerative economy in our industry
To achieve this, we are:
1. Reimagining our products and services with a view to building resilience across all our stakeholders
2. Investing in regenerative practices throughout our value chain
3. Collaborating with competitors and cross-sector partners to drive an industry-wide focus on resilience
4. Engaging our employees and stakeholders as agents of resilience
C. Alignment with national goals
We have aligned our strategy with our nation's resilience/sustainability goals, including:
[Specific national goals, e.g., carbon neutrality targets, biodiversity commitments]
[Economic resilience targets]
[Social equity and cohesion objectives]
We are actively contributing to these goals by:
1. [Specific initiative aligned with national goal]
2. [Specific initiative aligned with national goal]
3. [Specific initiative aligned with national goal]
II. Governance for Systemic Resilience
A. Board and management commitment to resilience
Our board has undergone a paradigm shift in its understanding of corporate purpose and our role in building national resilience. We have:
Redefined the role of our Sustainability function and appointed a Chief Resilience Officer reporting directly to the CEO
Integrated resilience metrics into executive compensation
Established a Systemic Resilience Committee at the board level
B. Stakeholder engagement in reimagining systemic resilience
We are actively engaging stakeholders in reimagining the systems we operate within:
Hosting regular 'Future Labs' with diverse stakeholders to envision resilient futures
Collaborating with indigenous communities to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge grounded in resilience
Engaging employees at all levels in identifying leverage points for shifting the conversation from sustainability to resilience in the face of systemic risks
C. Decision-making processes for long-term resilience
We have redesigned our decision-making processes to prioritize long-term resilience:
Implementing a 'Seven Generations' test for major decisions
Using systems mapping to understand the full implications of our choices
Regularly reassessing our purpose and strategy against evolving systemic needs
III. Resilience-Focused Risk and Opportunity Assessment
A. Identifying systemic risks and opportunities
We have broadened our risk assessment to consider systemic risks and opportunities:
Climate tipping points and their cascading effects
Social inequality and its impact on societal stability
Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse
Opportunities for regenerative business models
B. Scenario planning for future shocks and stresses
We regularly conduct scenario planning exercises considering a range of possible futures:
Rapid climate change scenarios
Social and political upheaval scenarios
Technological disruption scenarios
Regenerative economy transition scenarios
C. Strategies for enhancing adaptive capacity
Based on our risk and opportunity assessment, we are enhancing our adaptive capacity by:
Localizing our supply chains where possible and building redundancy in critical systems
Investing in employee skills for the regenerative economy
Building strong community relationships to enhance local resilience
Developing flexible, modular production systems
IV. Transformative Actions and Impacts
A. Climate resilience and regeneration
We are going beyond carbon neutrality to become climate positive:
Transitioning to 100% alternative energy (that doesn’t rely on fossil fuel like “renewables”) and helping our suppliers do the same
Implementing regenerative resource practices in our supply chain
Investing in large-scale ecosystem projects like restoration of hydrological cycles
Sourcing from suppliers that actively sequester carbon through natural ecosystems like biodynamic farming and syntropic agriculture
B. Social equity and community empowerment
We are working to build social resilience in our communities by:
Reporting on and constantly decreasing the wage ratio throughout our value chain
Co-creating community resilience plans with local stakeholders
Providing education and training for the regenerative economy
Supporting local circular economy initiatives
C. Economic model innovation
We are innovating our economic model to align with planetary boundaries:
Transitioning to a circular business model
Exploring alternative ownership structures that balance stakeholder needs
Implementing internal carbon pricing and natural capital accounting
Developing new metrics for success beyond financial growth to include multiple capitals
D. Ecosystem restoration and biodiversity
We are actively working to restore and regenerate ecosystems:
Committing to net-positive biodiversity impact across our operations
Partnering with conservation organizations for landscape-scale restoration
Integrating biodiversity considerations into all business decisions
Developing products that support ecosystem regeneration
V. Collaborative Initiatives for National Resilience
A. Cross-sector partnerships
We are engaging in partnerships to drive systemic change:
Collaborating with government agencies on resilience planning
Partnering with NGOs and community organizations for local resilience-building
Engaging with academia to advance resilience science and practice
B. Industry-wide paradigm shifts
We are working to catalyze paradigm shifts in our industry:
Leading an industry coalition for regenerative and resilience practices
Open-sourcing our sustainability innovations
Advocating for regulatory changes that support resilience
C. Supporting policy and regulatory changes
We are actively supporting policy changes that enhance national resilience:
Advocating for carbon pricing and removal of fossil fuel subsidies
Supporting policies that enhance biodiversity and ecosystem health
Promoting regulations that support the circular economy
VI. Metrics and Targets for Systemic Resilience
A. Traditional ESG metrics in context
While we continue to track traditional ESG metrics, we now view these in the context of systemic resilience:
Carbon emissions: [data], viewed in the context of our climate positive strategy
Water use: [data], viewed in the context of watershed/bioregion regeneration
Diversity metrics: [data], viewed in the context of building societal resilience
B. Resilience-focused key performance indicators
We have developed new KPIs to track our contribution to systemic resilience:
Ecosystem health index in areas of operation, using a range of Genuine Progress Indicators
Community resilience score in key locations
Circular economy percentage
Regenerative practice adoption rate in our supply chain
C. Progress towards paradigm shifts and system resilience
We track our progress in catalyzing broader system resilience:
Industry collaborations initiated and their outcomes
Policy changes supported and their impacts
Stakeholder mindset shifts (measured through surveys and case studies)
VII. Long-term Value Creation and Trade-offs
A. Balancing short-term imperatives with long-term resilience
We acknowledge the tensions between short-term business needs and long-term resilience:
[Specific example of a trade-off and how it was navigated]
[Specific example of a trade-off and how it was navigated]
B. Redefining value creation for multiple stakeholders
We are expanding our understanding of value creation:
Implementing integrated reporting to show value creation across multiple capitals
Developing new metrics for employee fulfillment and community vitality
Quantifying our contributions to national resilience
C. Transparent reporting on challenges and dilemmas
We are committed to transparency about the challenges we face:
[Specific challenge or dilemma and our approach]
[Specific challenge or dilemma and our approach]
VIII. Future Outlook and Ongoing Transformation
A. Next steps in the resilience journey
Our next steps include:
[Specific initiative or goal]
[Specific initiative or goal]
[Specific initiative or goal]
B. Anticipated paradigm shifts and system changes
We anticipate and are working towards the following shifts:
[Specific paradigm shift in industry or society]
[Specific paradigm shift in industry or society]
[Specific paradigm shift in industry or society]
C. Call to action for stakeholders
We invite our stakeholders to join us in this journey of transformation:
[Specific ask or opportunity for engagement]
[Specific ask or opportunity for engagement]
[Specific ask or opportunity for engagement]
Michael Haupt has been studying responses to societal challenges since he departed the corporate world in 2004 and still lives in the hope that one day CEOs will come to have more respect for the idea that long-term resilience trumps quarterly earnings calls.