ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance — it's a way to measure how responsibly a company operates in terms of the planet (E), people (S), and decision-making (G).

A material topic means a (highly) relevant topic for your company. The word materiality is used in sustainability to select to most relevant topic on which a company should focuses its efforts.  
A sustainability topic of mattter can be material from an impact perspective, for instance because your company emits greenhouse gas emissions or produces waste that have a negative environmental impact. This may be considered a very relevant topic for your company by local authorities or environmental ngo's (stakeholders).

A sustainabilty matter can also be material from a financial perspective: for instance, you transport many raw materials over water. During severe droughts, the waterborne logistics may be affected having an impact on your business contuinity thus posing for your company a financial risks. This topics then becames material or relevant for your company for your management, but also for instance for your financial partners.

For sme's, a double materiality assessment is not mandatory, but it is recommened to gain strategic insights. 
With a double materiality assessment you will be able to identify in a robust manner which sustainability matters are key to your company from an impact and financial perspectives (risks and opportunities).  
Gaining these insights will help you better navigate financial risks and opportunities stemming from sustainability and this will increase the resilience of your company and its future proofness. It will grow your sustainability maturity and you will be better able to understand and respond to questions from your business relations. 

No, feedstocks and fuels that are not combusted for energy purposes may be excluded from energy consumption. 

You should include energy that is produced on a site owned by your company, even when it is sold to a third party. Add it to the energy consumption of the respective energy type 

Below you find some reliable sources where emission factors can be found. 
ADEME – Base Empreinte® 
IPCC – Emissions Factor Database 
IPCC – Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories 
Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB) – Residual Mix Grid Emission Factors 
JRC – Historical GHG emissions factor for electricity consumption 
Life-cycle electricity production emission factors 
USEPA GHG emission factors Hub 
Emission Factors and reference values published by the Government of Canada 
IEA’s Annual GHG emission factors for World countries from electricity and heat generation (2022 data set, paid data set) 

See also Glossary.
Location-based: based on the average emissions of your region’s electricity grid.
Market-based: based on the type of electricity you buy (e.g. green energy).

When you agree to buy electricity from renewable sources (like wind or solar), your supplier guarantees your energy use is matched with green production through certificates.

A climate physical risk arises from a climate-related hazard. For instance, if the climate-related hazard is a flood, the physical risk is the flooding of your assets with the impacted employees and infrastructure. 
Hazards represent the potential for harmful events or trends. While risk will depend on the exposure to the climate-related hazard and the vulnerability of what is exposed (people, infrastructure,..), leading to actual adverse outcomes.

In case of teleworking, injuries and ill health are work-related if the injury or ill health is directly related to the performance of work rather than the general home environment. 

In case of injuries and ill health that occur while a person is travelling for work, these are considered work-related if the employee was performing work activities in the interest of the employer at the time of the injury or ill health. Accidents taking place when travelling, outside of the company’s responsibility (i.e., regular commuting to and from work), are subject to the applicable national legislation, which regulates their categorization as to whether they are considered work-related or not. 

Mental illness is considered work-related if it has been notified voluntarily by the relevant worker and is considered recordable if an evaluation from a licensed healthcare professional stating that the illness in question is indeed work-related.  

Health problems resulting from smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, and psychosocial factors not connected to work are not considered work-related. 

1 Headcount = 1 full-time worker = 1.0 FTE
1 part-time worker working 50% = 0.5 FTE

So if you have 3 full-time and 2 part-time (50%) workers:
➤ Total FTE = 3 × 1.0 + 2 × 0.5 = 4.0 FTEs

In Belgium there are three legislations to forbid forms of discrimination: the antiracisme law (1981), the antidiscrimination law (2007), and the genderlaw (2007). Discrimination can be based on the following criteria (no exclusive):  nationality, race, skincolour, origins, gender, age, sexuality, religion, health/illness, handicap, language, etc. An example could be a female employee that is discharged when returning from pregnancy and asking for accomodations to continue breastfed, or an employee that is discharged when diagnosed with a chronic illness.  

Only the legal representative is authorized to complete the report.

Questions labeled 'Mandatory' must have the status 'Validated' or 'Completed'.

This is normal and depends on your previous answers. C5 is an example of a section that is often empty.

We’re planning to create a collection of articles to help with individual sections of the report.
For now, there is one article available, and we’ll add more as new questions come in.

• How do I complete the breakdown of revenue by NACE code (B1) if my financial statements don’t include it?

If you have a question about a specific section, let us know. Your input helps us decide what to cover next!