Turning ESG into Performance: KPIs That Drive Strategy

As ESG reporting moves closer to mainstream financial and operational reporting, organisations are under growing pressure to demonstrate how sustainability strategy connects to measurable business performance. Yet many businesses still struggle to translate ESG ambitions into meaningful KPIs that support strategic decision-making rather than simply satisfy reporting expectations.

This session explores ESG from a performance measurement perspective, focusing on how organisations can develop practical KPIs that align sustainability goals with operational outcomes, value creation, and long-term strategy.

Participants will gain practical insight into converting strategy into measurable indicators, identifying material ESG metrics, improving reporting quality, and understanding whether SMEs should proactively prepare for evolving ESG expectations before legislation requires it. The session also explores how management can support more effective value reporting and avoid common KPI design failures that weaken strategic decision-making.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Why ESG matters to management
• Converting ESG strategy into measurable KPIs
• Materiality: measuring what actually matters
• Overview of ISSB standards: IFRS S1 and IFRS S2
• Climate metrics under IFRS S2: emissions accounting (Scopes 1, 2, and 3)
• KPI design principles and avoiding common KPI failures
• ESG reporting challenges for SMEs
• Preparing for evolving ESG reporting expectations
• Using ESG KPIs to drive value reporting
• Aligning sustainability metrics with business performance
• Improving ESG reporting quality and decision-making
• Integrating ESG into long-term business strategy