Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) in Northeast Wisconsin

What’s the ESG buzz? You more than likely are either part of the team working on identifying and measuring your organization’s Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) impacts, or just learning more about what this is all about. Because of its wide range of initiatives and coordination required across organizational teams, it can be difficult to manage and more challenging to measure. While important, ESGs extend well beyond environmental sustainability. It is an approach to evaluate the extent to which an organization works on behalf of social goals, and its impact on employees, suppliers, customers and the communities where it operates.

To highlight the progress in our region, we have included information and examples that feature some of our investor companies’ ESG Reports as best-practice examples.

Governance reports include some of the following focus areas:

• Protecting the environment—reducing its carbon footprint and addressing climate change
• Utilizing clean and reliable energy
• Identifying recyclable materials to reduce operational waste
• Enhancing digital innovation
• Collaborating with supply chain partners to also follow similar ESG guidelines
• Developing internal governance with executive leadership and internal controls to promote transparency and accountability
• Creating engagements that are grounded in connection — listening and learning from our communities to better understand key needs in our communities
• Developing strong Diversity-Equity-Inclusion initiatives that actively work for the betterment of society, recruit and develop underrepresented groups, and address the unique needs of diverse populations in our region
• Providing for the physical, financial and emotional wellness of team members and their families

Through the examples provided by companies in our New North region, you will see the actions in their governance reports that help manage the risks and opportunities created by changing environmental, economic and social conditions. Not only does this increase our resiliency, but it is also important to attracting talent and new investment to Northeast Wisconsin.

We are incredibly proud of the companies in the New North Region who are setting the bar high and leading by example.