Five Minutes with Christine Adeline

Christine Adeline, SVP of Product Management at SAI360, talks with Energy Digital Magazine.

Read the article in Energy Digital Magazine, June 2022 issue, page 16.

ESG is a vast discipline that covers a range of factors – from carbon footprint and biodiversity impacts to health and safety practices and corruption.

Q1. TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND SAI360, WHEN AND WHY IT WAS LAUNCHED?

SAI360 is the only cloud-first platform that brings together the full suite across Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), Environment, Health, Safety, and Sustainability (EHS&S), and Ethics and Compliance Learning. We take a unified approach to risk management.

Q2. HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS ESG’S IMPACT ON THE ENERGY INDUSTRY?

Now more than ever, there are growing expectations for the energy industry to demonstrate its ESG strategy and meet environmental, social and governance regulatory requirements. In the past, much of the industry’s greater focus has been on accelerating the energy transition and meeting decarbonisation commitments. But the recent surge in social injustice, economic disparities, public health crises and climate-related risks have intensified the focus on broader ESG issues for the CEOs and the Board.

Q3. HOW CAN ENERGY COMPANIES IMPROVE THEIR ESG PROFILES AND WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF A CENTRALISED ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE SYSTEM?

Energy companies must shift from pledges to more quantifiable and financially-relevant frameworks of ESG reporting to improve their ESG profiles. Companies should demonstrate their performance with figures against achievable targets such as quantifying the carbon emissions reduction or the improvements in lost-time injury rates.

But, while many companies are keen to demonstrate their ESG credentials, they are hampered in doing so effectively by the availability of what analysts call investor-grade data; to support ESG operationalisation and improvements. Investor-grade data is transparent, complete, accurate, auditable, and timely to support ESG and Sustainability disclosures and reporting.

Q4. WITH NEW REGULATIONS AND DISCLOSURES LIKELY TO MAKE ESG REPORTING MANDATORY, HOW CAN ENERGY COMPANIES IMPROVE THEIR COMPLIANCE AND TRANSPARENCY?

ESG is a vast discipline that covers a range of factors – from carbon footprint and biodiversity impacts to health and safety practices and corruption. And with the ESG regulation and disclosures landscape rapidly evolving, ESG compliance may seem daunting. I can predict that more ESG regulations and disclosure requirements, whether mandatory, voluntary, or government-driven, will probably be announced between now and the next 36 months.

Companies need to identify all stakeholders, internal and external. They need to understand what ESG factors are; to their operations and stakeholders; and as ESG risks cover many parts of a company, it will be essential to enable cross-functional teams to work together on managing ESG risks.

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