The Importance of Accurate, Auditable ESG Data

Original article published by: Getting Ecological

Interview with Patrick Obeid

Patrick Obeid, founder of ESG Flo, is the first graduate of Bain & Company’s Founder’s Studio, an internal incubator program. Combining over a decade of consulting experience with an ambitious goal to revolutionize how companies perceive and optimize their energy consumption, Patrick has gathered the support of Bain and numerous industry leaders. Today, he shares insights on the importance of accurate, auditable ESG data and how his SaaS solution, ESG Flo, is meeting the growing demands of sustainability reporting and compliance.

Can you introduce ESG Flo and what your company focuses on within the sustainability sector?

ESG Flo is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution developed within Bain & Company. Our platform leverages AI to enable enterprises to automatically generate ESG audit-ready metrics from raw data, including PDFs, spreadsheets, legacy systems, and other sources. We focus on helping companies align quickly with various ESG reporting frameworks such as CSRD, CDP, and GRI, as well as meeting stakeholder requests like investor and customer reports with accuracy, transparency, and efficiency.

How does your offering promote sustainability and address ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) criteria?

ESG Flo promotes sustainability by creating a centralized, robust, and auditable repository of ESG data. Our solution ensures that companies can meet disclosure requirements seamlessly without incurring additional time and costs associated with data collection and report drafting. By leveraging AI to generate accurate and transparent ESG metrics, we help companies align their operations with ESG criteria, thereby fostering better environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and governance practices.

Why is there an increasing need for ESG data accuracy and auditability?

The demand for accurate and auditable ESG data has never been higher, driven both by new regulations and the need for greater transparency from multiple stakeholders. Regulatory bodies worldwide are instituting stringent ESG reporting frameworks which mandate comprehensive and precise disclosures.

Moreover, investors, customers, and other stakeholders are increasingly prioritizing sustainability performance in their decision-making processes. They seek verifiable, transparent data to ensure that companies are genuinely committed to sustainable practices, rather than merely greenwashing. This push for transparency is why accurate, auditable ESG data is crucial.

What are the main challenges in getting accurate data?

There are several significant challenges in obtaining accurate ESG data. First, data is often dispersed across multiple systems and owned by different departments within an organization, making it difficult to aggregate and standardize. Second, the lack of standardized data formats adds complexity—different units of measurement, languages, and timeframes can create inconsistencies.

Finally, much of the ESG data required today, such as carbon emissions or employee satisfaction metrics, has not been systematically collected until recently. As a result, companies must establish new processes to gather and manage this information effectively.

What innovative technologies does ESG Flo leverage to achieve its sustainability goals, and how does it support your mission?

ESG Flo leverages AI and machine learning to extract data directly from diverse sources, transforming it into reportable metrics. This technology maintains a complete audit trail, showing the origin of the data and all transformations applied. AI automates many manual tasks, such as data entry and validation, which traditionally consume substantial time and resources.

By simplifying and speeding up these processes, our platform not only reduces the costs associated with data collection and report drafting but also enhances the accuracy and reliability of ESG data, thereby supporting our mission to promote sustainability.

What should we prepare for in the future?

Companies should prepare for a future where stakeholders demand even greater transparency regarding ESG performance. This means establishing a solid, accurate, and auditable infrastructure for ESG data is no longer optional but essential. Businesses need to be proactive in adopting technologies that allow them to efficiently gather, manage, and report their ESG data.

By creating a centralized, robust repository of ESG information that can scale with organizational growth and adapt to various reporting frameworks, companies can ensure they meet evolving disclosure requirements without incurring excessive costs or time delays. Ultimately, having a single source of truth for ESG data will be indispensable in navigating the future landscape of sustainability reporting and compliance.