to continue to be competitive in attracting investor capital, companies would need to demonstrate dedication to improving environmental, social and governance outcomes. As ESG reporting becomes more embedded in market expectations, investors are looking more closely at the data, and there is growing anticipation that reporting standards will be consolidated and standardized even further. As ESG data becomes a critical component of evaluating financial returns, many experts are predicting that investors will demand more rigor and auditability in ESG data. Now is a good time to look at your organization’s data collection processes and determine how defensible your environmental data is. A few things to consider: › Do you have an audit trail? › Can you explain the assumptions used to calculate environmental outputs? › Is your data stored securely? As the Biden administration has rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, set a new 2020 carbon reduction target, and made environmental justice a central theme , many experts are anticipating that enforcement of existing regulations will increase in the coming years. Now is an excellent time to evaluate the level of visibility you have into whether your critical compliance tasks are being completed. Additionally, as environmental performance and financial outcomes become intertwined, we may even see environmental-related enforcement coming from agencies outside the EPA. For example, in February, the acting chair of the SEC issued a directive to the division of corporate finance to enhance its focus on climate-related disclosures in public company filings and asked that previously issued guidance from 2010 be updated, citing that “now more than ever, investors are considering climate-related issues when making their investment decisions,” and that the SEC must “ensure that they have access to material information.” Environmental data can’t be viewed in a compliance silo and must 24 © CORITY SOFTWARE INC.