ESG GUIDE
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance: a set of criteria used to assess how a company manages its environmental footprint, its relationships with people and communities, and the way it is governed and held to account. This guide sets out what ESG is, how a weighted assessment of the three pillars works, the materiality and double materiality views that set the agenda, the recognised reporting standards an exporter may meet across the European Union, Singapore and the Gulf, the ESG Rating Providers registered with SEBI and how their methodologies differ, and the questions companies ask most.
ESG is assessed across three pillars, environmental, social and governance, and disclosed on a recognised standard chosen for the business; in India there is no single unified ESG law, and ESG Rating Providers registered with SEBI each publish their own pillar weighting.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance: a set of criteria used to assess how a company manages its environmental footprint, its relationships with people and communities, and the way it is governed and held to account.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. It is a set of criteria used to assess how a company manages its environmental footprint, its relationships with people and communities, and the way it is governed and held to account. There is no single unified ESG law in India; instead a company answers to a mix of statutory disclosure for the largest listed entities, the methodologies of ESG Rating Providers registered with SEBI, and the questionnaires that lenders, listed buyers and overseas customers send. A questionnaire answer, a rating submission and a lender review all draw on the same evidence base, so a documented assessment builds that evidence once.
A baseline captures current data and policies, and a materiality scan ranks the issues that move value and risk for the sector. The weighted pillar assessment then scores readiness on a transparent split of environmental 40 percent, social 30 percent and governance 30 percent. The split is GreenSutra practice, following the best practices of leading ESG solution providers, disclosed in full so any score can be retraced, and the gaps it exposes become a roadmap sequenced by cost and impact. It is never a statutory figure and never an ESG rating agency figure.
Each parameter of the framework carries a specific weightage, and common elements are identified under each pillar, so the assessment stays standard and comparable across businesses.
The weightage steers effort and scoring through the assessment; every pillar is assessed in full and disclosed against the chosen framework. The lean overview and the conversion path sit on the ESG solutions page; this guide holds the detail.
An ESG assessment moves from a company baseline and a materiality scan, through a scored assessment of the environmental, social and governance pillars on the disclosed weightage, into a disclosure drafted on a recognised basis and read by ESG rating providers and investors.
The data file is readied for independent verification, and each reporting cycle starts from a measured baseline rather than restarting the assessment.
Indian companies that sell into the European Union, Singapore or the Gulf increasingly answer to a destination market reporting standard rather than to a single home regime; the recognised standards differ in origin, scope and the audience they serve.
The engagement maps the evidence base once and aligns it to whichever standard the buyer, investor or listing venue expects. The four recognised standards below differ in origin and scope; the card flag marks whether a de facto exemption applies (none do, each can reach an Indian company through its market or customers).
A statutory disclosure format for environmental, social and governance performance, with a subset of assurable core indicators. Filed by India's largest listed companies; scoped in full on the dedicated BRSR reporting page.
Statutory in India for the largest listed companiesA modular, voluntary, free set of standards on an organisation's impacts on the economy, environment and people, structured into Universal, Sector and Topic standards. Per the KPMG Survey of Sustainability Reporting 2024, 77 percent of the world's 250 largest companies report with GRI.
Most widely used global basisA global baseline for investor focused disclosure: IFRS S1 covers general sustainability related financial information, IFRS S2 covers climate and builds on the TCFD recommendations. Issued June 2023, effective for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2024.
Adopting jurisdictions and their exportersThe European Sustainability Reporting Standards used under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, built on a double materiality view of an entity's impacts and its financial risks and opportunities.
Can reach non EU groups through EU operationsOne evidence base is built and aligned to whichever standard applies, rather than rebuilding answers for each format.
A materiality assessment ranks the environmental, social and governance issues that matter most for a specific company, so effort and disclosure focus on what moves value and risk; double materiality looks at two directions at once, financial materiality and impact materiality.
A materiality assessment ranks the environmental, social and governance issues that matter most for a specific company, so effort and disclosure focus on what moves value and risk.
Double materiality looks at two directions at once, and a materiality matrix is built early in the engagement, since it sets the weighting and scope for everything that follows.
The matrix becomes the agenda. Issues that rank high on both axes drive the disclosure and the data work, while lower ranked issues are recorded but not over reported. The same matrix steers which pillar metrics matter most for the sector, so the weighted pillar assessment and the disclosure stay anchored to what is material rather than to a generic checklist.
Indian companies are rated by ESG Rating Providers registered with SEBI and by global agencies; each provider publishes its own methodology and pillar weighting, so readiness means preparing the data each chosen provider requests rather than assuming any one pillar carries the most weight.
An ESG rating is read alongside the disclosure, so a score improves when disclosure gaps close and data quality rises, not when more adjectives are added.
Whichever provider or standard applies, the disclosure rests on the same scored, sourced data file, structured to survive independent verification. A readiness review fixes the standard and the data scope before the data work begins.
A one-page branded checklist sets out the six ESG readiness steps: take a baseline, run a materiality scan, score the weighted pillars, choose the disclosure standard, build the data file, and ready it for assurance.
The download link is emailed on submit, the checklist PDF is attached to that email, and the team is notified. The checklist is also reachable directly below.
The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, Directive (EU) 2022/2464, can reach an Indian company through its EU operations; following the Omnibus I simplification published on 26 February 2026, a third country group falls into scope only above defined turnover thresholds, with non EU group reporting expected around financial year 2028.
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, Directive (EU) 2022/2464, can capture a non EU parent group through its EU operations, so an Indian exporter is not automatically outside its scope. The Omnibus I simplification, published in the Official Journal on 26 February 2026 and in force from 18 March 2026, narrowed the third country thresholds.
Even below those thresholds, an EU customer captured by the directive often asks its Indian suppliers for the same environmental, social and governance data to complete its own disclosure, which is why a documented assessment and an assurance ready data file matter ahead of any direct obligation. For exporters whose products fall under EU border rules, the same evidence base supports a separate assessment on the CBAM compliance guide.
The same assessment and disclosure discipline is tuned to where a business stands on ESG, from listed entities preparing disclosure to exporters answering buyer questionnaires, funds assessing investee companies and unlisted companies building voluntarily.
An assessment is only as defensible as the method behind it.
Delivery is for businesses across India from a Mumbai base since 2016, in an evidence first house style where every claim carries a number, a name or a date.
Across the Gulf, ESG expectations are driven mainly by national policy direction rather than by a single rule: Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 frames economic diversification and sustainability as a national priority, and the United Arab Emirates has committed to a Net Zero 2050 strategy, with listing venues and large buyers in the region increasingly asking suppliers and partners for sustainability data. A structured first step is an ESG discovery brief, after which the engagement is set out on the ESG solutions page.
Common questions on what ESG is, ESG consulting, ratings and rating agencies, materiality, due diligence, frameworks, the EU CSRD and Gulf expectations, answered for listed entities, exporters, funds and unlisted companies.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. It is a set of criteria used to assess how a company manages its environmental footprint, its relationships with people and communities, and the way it is governed and held to account. The environmental pillar covers matters such as emissions, water, energy conservation and waste management; the social pillar covers inclusive development, community development, diversity and CSR; the governance pillar covers compliance, related party transactions, transparency and oversight. ESG solutions help a company measure, improve and disclose performance across all three so that rating agencies, lenders and buyers can verify it.
ESG solutions are advisory and implementation services that help a company measure, improve and disclose its environmental, social and governance performance. A typical engagement covers a baseline, a materiality scan, a scored assessment of the three pillars, a costed roadmap, data systems, disclosure drafting on a recognised basis, and assurance support. The aim is performance that rating agencies, lenders and buyers can verify. GreenSutra delivers this as one accountable engagement from Mumbai across India, scoring readiness on a transparent environmental 40 percent, social 30 percent and governance 30 percent weighting.
An ESG consultant turns scattered policies and data into a measured, defensible position. The work begins with a baseline and a materiality scan that ranks the issues most relevant to the sector, then a scored assessment exposes gaps across the environmental, social and governance pillars. From there the consultant builds a costed roadmap, stands up the data collection the assessment flagged as missing, drafts disclosure on a recognised basis, and supports independent assurance. The output is evidence a rating agency, lender or buyer can check, not a narrative.
ESG consulting in India is priced by scope, not by a single rate. The main cost drivers are the number of sites and the maturity of existing data, the breadth of the materiality scan, whether the engagement stops at assessment or runs through to disclosure and assurance support, the number of pillars and metrics in play, and whether overseas buyer questionnaires add formats. A baseline and materiality assessment is the lightest scope; a full baseline to assurance engagement with data systems is the heaviest. A scoped proposal follows the materiality scan, once the real data gaps are visible.
A score improves when disclosure gaps close and data quality rises, not when more adjectives are added. The fastest gains usually come from completing the quantitative data that rating methodologies request. An analysis by CEEW and IICA of FY 2024 disclosures by India's largest listed companies, published in November 2025, found 781 of roughly 1000 filers disclosed Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions while only 268 reported value chain Scope 3 emissions, so completeness is where most positions are lost. A scored pillar assessment identifies which missing metrics depress the score most, and the roadmap sequences them by cost and impact. CRISIL, CareEdge, ICRA, Acuite and SES are among the ESG Rating Providers registered with SEBI, and each publishes its own pillar weighting rather than a shared one. The CRISIL methodology dated May 2026, for instance, weights governance highest at 40 percent, with environmental at 35 percent and social at 25 percent, so readiness means preparing the data each chosen provider requests rather than assuming environmental factors carry the most weight.
Indian companies are rated by ESG Rating Providers registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, with obligations consolidated in the Master Circular for ESG Rating Providers dated 11 July 2025. CRISIL ESG Ratings and Analytics was the first provider registered, with approval announced on 25 April 2024, and the live register also lists ICRA ESG Ratings, CARE ESG Ratings and SES ESG Research among others. Global agencies such as MSCI, Sustainalytics and S&P Global cover larger Indian firms. Each provider publishes its own methodology and pillar weighting, so a readiness engagement prepares the data those methodologies request rather than chasing a single score.
A materiality assessment ranks the environmental, social and governance issues that matter most for a specific company, so effort and disclosure focus on what moves value and risk. Double materiality looks at two directions at once: financial materiality, meaning how an issue affects the company, and impact materiality, meaning how the company affects people and the environment. Indian companies exposed to investor screens and overseas customers increasingly need both views. GreenSutra builds a materiality matrix early in the engagement, since it sets the weighting and scope for everything that follows.
ESG due diligence assesses a target or investee company's environmental, social and governance risks and performance before an investment, acquisition or exit. It covers environmental and social management, health and safety, business and human rights exposure, governance quality and any pending liabilities, then scores them so the finding feeds the deal. Funds use it to screen and to set post deal improvement conditions; companies use it to prepare for a buyer's scrutiny. The output is a scored, sourced risk picture rather than a narrative red flag list.
ESG advisory and ESG certification are different services. Advisory means measuring, improving and disclosing ESG performance: baseline, materiality, scoring, roadmap, disclosure and assurance support. Certification, in common Indian usage, often refers to training courses that issue an individual a credential, or to a third party audit against a specific scheme. The two are complementary but distinct: advisory builds the company's performance and evidence, while a certificate attests to a person's knowledge or a single audited claim. GreenSutra delivers advisory and assurance readiness, not training certificates.
Unlisted companies and SMEs increasingly act on ESG because of commercial pressure rather than a direct mandate. India's largest listed companies gather ESG data from their major suppliers and customers under the listed company disclosure regime, and lenders and overseas customers attach ESG conditions to contracts and credit, so suppliers are asked for data they have never collected. Building a baseline and roadmap early lets an unlisted company answer those requests with evidence and avoid losing business to better prepared rivals. The work is voluntary in form but commercially driven in practice.
ESG advisory drafts disclosure on a recognised basis chosen for the business rather than forcing one standard onto every company. The GRI Standards are the most widely used global basis: the KPMG Survey of Sustainability Reporting 2024 found 77 percent of the world's 250 largest companies report with GRI. ISO 26000 offers guidance on social responsibility and is explicitly not for certification. Indian listed companies inside the SEBI disclosure net also report on a statutory format, scoped on the dedicated BRSR reporting page. The engagement selects the basis that fits the audience, then structures one data set to serve all of them.
An exporter often answers to a standard set where its customer, investor or listing venue sits rather than only at home. In the European Union, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, Directive (EU) 2022/2464, can capture a non EU parent group through its EU operations. Following the EU Omnibus I simplification published in the Official Journal on 26 February 2026, a third country group falls into scope only where it generated EU net turnover above EUR 450 million in each of the last two consecutive years and has an EU subsidiary above EUR 200 million net turnover, or an EU branch above EUR 50 million, with non EU group reporting expected to begin around financial year 2028; those thresholds and dates were still being transposed by Member States as of mid 2026, so they are the current but evolving position. Globally, IFRS S1 and S2, the inaugural standards of the International Sustainability Standards Board, were issued in June 2023 and are effective for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2024, with IFRS S2 building on the TCFD recommendations as an investor focused baseline. In Singapore, SGX Listing Rules 711A and 711B require ISSB aligned climate disclosure, including mandatory reporting of Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions, for all SGX listed issuers from the financial year beginning on or after 1 January 2025. The engagement builds one evidence base and aligns it to whichever of these applies.
Yes. Overseas buyers and large customers increasingly ask Indian suppliers and exporters to complete platform questionnaires such as EcoVadis or to disclose through CDP, then score the verified data and feed it into procurement and financing decisions. A buyer wants evidence it can trust, not adjectives, because its own sustainability disclosure and supply chain commitments depend on the data its suppliers return. The engagement assembles the underlying evidence once, covering emissions, energy, water, workforce, safety and governance metrics, structures it to survive scrutiny, and maps it to the format each questionnaire requests, so the supplier responds from data already collected rather than assembling answers under deadline. For exporters whose products fall under EU border rules, the same evidence base supports a separate assessment on the CBAM Solutions page.
The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, Directive (EU) 2022/2464, can reach an Indian company through its EU operations, so an exporter is not automatically outside its scope. Following the EU Omnibus I simplification, published in the Official Journal on 26 February 2026 and in force from 18 March 2026, a third country group falls into scope only where it generated EU net turnover above EUR 450 million in each of the last two consecutive years and has an EU subsidiary above EUR 200 million net turnover, or an EU branch above EUR 50 million. Reporting by non EU groups is expected to begin around financial year 2028, and the thresholds and dates were still being transposed by Member States, with a deadline of 19 March 2027, as of mid 2026, so they are the current but evolving position. Even below those thresholds, an EU customer captured by the directive often asks its Indian suppliers for the same environmental, social and governance data to complete its own disclosure, which is why a documented assessment and an assurance ready data file matter ahead of any direct obligation.
ESG expectations across the Gulf are driven mainly by national policy direction rather than by a single rule. Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 frames economic diversification and sustainability as a national priority, and the United Arab Emirates has committed to a Net Zero 2050 strategy, with listing venues and large buyers in the region increasingly asking suppliers and partners for sustainability data. For Indian companies operating in or exporting to the Gulf, this translates into buyer and investor questions about environmental, social and governance performance, which a documented assessment and an assurance ready data file are built to answer. The engagement delivers the same baseline, materiality scan and disclosure discipline tuned to where a business stands and the markets it serves.
BRSR, Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting, is the statutory disclosure format set by the Securities and Exchange Board of India for the largest listed companies, covering environmental, social and governance performance with a subset of assurable core indicators. ESG advisory builds the performance and the data behind that report rather than replacing it: a baseline, a materiality scan, a scored pillar assessment and an assurance ready data file. The statutory format, its scope and the regulatory dates are scoped in full on the dedicated BRSR reporting page, while ESG advisory readies the company to disclose against it and against any other recognised basis its investors and buyers expect.
The ESG standards, rating rules and disclosure figures cited in this guide come from the standard setters, the regulator and the published analyses.
This guide sets out the standards and the method; a readiness review applies them to a specific business. The ESG solutions page sets out the engagement, the ESG discovery brief opens a structured first step, and BRSR reporting carries the statutory disclosure for listed entities.
Reviewed June 2026