By Mathieu Hemery, Jason Cordier and Tracey Berry
Over the past year, our Sustainability Service Line team has worked across multiple ESG uplift engagements with financial institutions.
We have covered everything from impact framework design and ESG policy integration to credit scoring models development and refinement, financed emissions reporting, system enhancement, and risk data strategy planning and implementation.
What we’ve learned is this:
The difference between stalled and successful ESG risk transformations isn’t intent, it’s integration.
We’ve observed that organisations don’t fall short because of a lack of commitment. They fall short because too often, policy, credit risk, data, operations, and frontline engagement evolve in silos, creating friction, fatigue, and confusion.
Here’s what successful ESG uplift programs tend to get right:
- They define success early and across domains
Whether the focus is policy governance, lending criteria, or ESG data architecture, leaders define what ‘good’ looks like in a shared language. This helps avoid disconnected initiatives and sets a roadmap for integration.
- They unify lending, risk, sustainability, and data teams
We’ve seen the strongest momentum when ESG uplift is not owned solely by compliance or sustainability. Instead, these programs bring in credit, enterprise risk, product, technology, and frontline teams to embed ESG in real decision-making.
- They start with what’s available
Rather than waiting for ‘perfect’ ESG data or third-party platforms, successful institutions optimise what’s already in-house – existing credit data, emissions estimates, or internal risk ratings – and build from there. Iteration wins over delay. Iteration is the key, and we have found the sooner you get something working, the sooner you can conceive of improvements and create the next iteration.
- They focus on implementation, not just frameworks
Strong ESG uplift doesn’t stop at policy. It involves updating procedures and practice, building new workflows, testing ESG risk scores, and changing how frontline staff engage with customers. Transformation happens when business processes change – not just slides.
- They empower internal changemakers
Across every successful engagement, we’ve encountered individuals inside the organisation who understand both ESG priorities and operational reality. These champions are often the difference between stalled intent and real impact.
On the other side, here’s where ESG uplift programs often stall — regardless of the entry point:
- Too many disconnected workstreams without a lead;
- Delays in system enablement, leaving policy changes unworkable;
- Frontline disengagement due to lack of clarity or tools;
- Tools that lack the ability to easily accept new configurations.
So, what do we advise across our ESG uplift service streams?
- Simplify and align.
Whether you’re leading on climate risk, sustainable lending, or ESG governance – anchor every activity to decision-useful outcomes.
- Start from the outcome you want and work backward.
If you're enhancing ESG credit risk assessments, start with how those scores will inform actual decisions. Then build the policy, data capture, and system flows to support that.
- Prioritise executable change.
High-impact, achievable steps – even imperfect – build credibility and momentum. They allow policy to meet process, and ambition to meet action.
We’re continuing to refine our ESG uplift frameworks across governance, risk, credit, and systems integration. If you're leading similar work or curious about where ESG uplift is heading next, we’d love to exchange ideas.
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