Please note: the cost to participate is $2,500 for VBSR Members and $3,000 for Nonmembers. Registering here reserves up to 5 spots in the ESG Learning Cohort for your team members. This cohort is limited to a total of 20 organizations with up to 5 individuals per organization. You will be invoiced separately in January 2023.

With a mission to leverage the power of business for positive social and environmental impact, we are always creating opportunities to share knowledge that helps our members (and interested nonmembers!) deepen these commitments in their organizations. And we know there can sometimes be a gap between making those commitments to positive impact and actually measuring – and reporting – those commitments.

This ESG Learning Cohort takes the guesswork out of reporting with a focus on ESG disclosure, an approach that is among the fastest growing voluntary disclosures in history and has become the primary means of documenting how organizations “do well by doing good.”

As ESG disclosure regulations go into effect in major markets around the world, any organization working with a publicly traded company will face increasing expectations and pressures regarding their ESG performance and reporting. Are you working with any publicly traded or brand name companies? Do you want to work with more of them? As ESG expectations increase across stakeholder groups, are you ready to address these pressures and requirements?

Join VBSR and Rho Impact for a deep dive into ESG!

We will break down these concepts from acronyms and buzz words to understand what ESG is, what it means for your business, and what you can do to address the associated risks and opportunities.

This program is designed for organizations of all sizes and stages of growth, with a particular focus on companies with 50 to 1,000 FTE. Each organization may send a team of up of to 5 people allowing team members to:

• Learn alongside and support each other through concept, planning, and work sessions
• Meet 1:1 with the facilitator, Noah Miller from Rho Impact, for a 60-minute consultation
• Create an ESG strategic plan and advisory so you can be your own ESG consultants!

With the support of experts and the latest research and resources, you will gain:

• An understanding of what ESG is, what it means for your company, and what you can do about it.
• Guidance on addressing the expectations and ESG procurement requirements facing suppliers of public and name-brand companies.
• Expert consultation and guidance in defining your ESG goals, aligning with stakeholder needs, and developing an action plan to address shared objectives.
• A toolkit of ESG reporting best practices, including a breakdown of major disclosure standards and approaches for data-driven storytelling and stakeholder communications.
• A community of practice that creates both support for the individuals participating and momentum for our collective effort toward better understanding (and transparency) of the consequences of business operations.
• Insight into the ESG journey of your peers from other Vermont companies.

Sessions 1-7 (virtual) – February 9th, February 23rd, March 9th, March 23rd, April 13th, April 27th, May 25th from 2:00 - 4:00 PM

Session 8 (in-person) – June 15th from 2:00 - 4:00 PM

Session 1 – Intro to ESG

This session will provide a foundation for the rest of the program, providing a broad overview of fundamental concepts such as:

• What is ESG, what are ESG issues, and why is ESG the new normal of business
• History and evolution of ESG
• ESG regulatory pressures, stakeholder expectations, and business conditions
• The ESG Value Proposition for each stage of business growth
• How ESG concepts relate to operational decisions from “day one”
• How ESG influence investor engagement and customer acquisition
• How ESG creates operational, financial, and strategic opportunities

Session 2 – Stakeholder Management & Value Creation

This session will explore the concept of stakeholder capitalism and value creation, providing strategies and tactics for addressing expectations and aligning to address joint objectives. This session will address topics such as:

• Stakeholder expectations for corporate ESG performance: Investors, employees, partners & customers
• Stakeholder engagement objectives, strategies, and tactics
• Stakeholder value creation and collective action
• Alignment and integration of ESG objectives, stakeholder expectations, and business priorities

Session 3 – ESG in Action – Public Markets & Private Companies

This session will compare and contrast the ESG expectations and pressures facing both public and private companies, including addressing topics such as:

• Business conditions, regulatory pressures, and corporate implications
• ESG expectations and pressures on public companies vs. private companies
• Best practices for addressing expectations and pressures to both public and private companies

Session 4 – Beginning Your ESG Journey

This session will guide participants through the first key steps in developing an enterprise ESG strategy, which include conducting a materiality assessment and developing enterprise ESG policies. This session will include the following activities:

• Conducting a materiality assessment to help determine which issues present risks and opportunities to the business and its stakeholders
• Developing enterprise ESG policies to communicate your company’s position on and approach to addressing identified material issues

Session 5 – Developing Your ESG Roadmap

This session will guide participants through the fundamental steps of developing an ESG strategic plan, also known as an ESG Road Map. This session will include the following activities:

• Conducting an “ESG Inventory” to determine the starting point, or “current state.”
• Facilitating an ESG strategic planning session
• Outlining the steps your company will take to address material issues and what metrics you will track and report progress on

Session 6 – Communicating Your ESG Performance

This session will guide participants through the key components of developing an ESG report and disclosing performance with stakeholders. This session will include the following activities:

• Outlining key steps and best practices for communicating your ESG performance with confidence, clarity, and technical accuracy
• The anatomy of a high-quality ESG report and key areas for inclusion
• Review of relevant disclosure standards such as the Sustainable Accounting Standards Boards (SASB), Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) and more
• How to leverage this information for customer and investor acquisition

Session 7 – Sharing Reflections, Discussing Insights, and Answering Questions

This session will guide participants through a reflective learning process in which key reflections, insights, and questions for further discussion will be explored. This session will include the following:

• Reflective session on key themes and insights derived from participants throughout the cohort
• Discussion on applying those insights within the context of one’s own company
• Q&A Session on any outstanding questions or follow-ups from prior discussions

Session 8 (In-person) - Final Presentations & Social Gathering

Noah Miller (he/him)

Co-Founder - Head of ESG Advisory Services, Rho Impact

Noah is the Chief Strategist and Head of ESG Advisory Services at Rho Impact. With over a decade of ESG consulting experience, Noah has held multiple leadership roles including Senior Director for Summit Strategy Group's ESG Consulting Services practice and serving as an ESG Director for multiple public and private companies.

A recognized thought-leader in the ESG space, Noah has been influential at building ESG capacity at the industry level, having led the curriculum development for multiple industry-specific ESG certification programs. Noah holds an MBA in Sustainable Innovation and a BA in Community Development & Applied Economics (CDAE) from the University of Vermont. Noah also holds an MS in Mediation & Applied Conflict Studies from Champlain College and served as a commander in the Israeli Army.

Rho Impact provides services and software that accelerate the adoption and implementation of ESG, sustainability, and impact programs around the world. With roots dating back to 2012, Rho Impact combines the art and science of impact planning, tracking, and reporting through purpose-built software tools and hands-on advisory services. Rho Impact partners with some of the world’s leading impact-focused organizations and contributes to a variety of open access tools, frameworks, and methodologies.

Relevant ESG education and capacity-building clients include the Corporate Finance Institute, Green Building Initiative, Regennabis, the Prime Coalition for Catalytic Capital, and Tideline Impact Advisory.

Other clients and partners include investment groups like Eclipse Ventures, MaRS Innovation District, and Brinc, as well as companies like Mitsubishi, iSun, and Eat Just.

Questions about the VBSR ESG Learning Cohort? Please reach out to VBSR Education & Events Manager, Molly Barfuss, at bW9sbHliIHwgdmJzciAhIG9yZw==.

Interested in becoming a VBSR member? Learn more here.