OVERVIEW
OBATA Specializes in ESG, CSR and Sustainability Reporting
At OBATA, we have been producing annual reports for more than six decades. This extensive background has given us a deep understanding of ESG, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and sustainability reports.
Our strategic and creative experts help you craft a compelling sustainability story that reflects your commitment to meaningful progress.
We understand that your sustainability journey is the result of the passion and dedication of the people behind it, and we aim to highlight the positive impact your company is making on customers, key stakeholders, employees, local communities, and the world.
Extensive ESG Reporting Services
Our expert team provides guidance and consulting services for reporting strategy, content development, and design services that are tailored to your specific needs. Following a honed process and best practices, we have created some of our clients’ most visible and valued ESG and sustainability materials.
We also offer customized sustainability training and workshops on ESG and sustainability strategy and stakeholder engagement to help teams develop a common language and build consensus, resulting in greater cooperation downstream.
Informative Reporting Resources
To improve your next ESG or sustainability report, check out our recent examples and resources.
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REPORTING SERVICES
How We Can Help
As a leading ESG reporting design firm, we guide clients toward strong reporting strategies and communications. Our team of expert strategists and creatives help companies define, develop, design, and deepen their positive impact.
DEFINE
ESG Reporting Strategy
Communicate ESG strategy, efforts, and results to address corporate goals for reporting
- Sector benchmarking & gap analysis
- Strategy counsel & goal-setting guidance
- Stakeholder engagement, double materiality assessment & analysis
- Reporting framework(s) selection guidance
- Data collection, indexing & analysis
- Ratings services and submissions
- ESG training & facilitated workshops
DEVELOP
Content & Storytelling
Showcase impactful examples of how your company is making a difference through written content, digital interactions, photography and videos
- Subject matter expert interviews
- Copywriting, editing & proofreading
- Content organization
- Photography & art direction
- Video, scripting & editing
Need help with your annual report or proxy statement?
Learn more about our annual reporting capabilities
DESIGN
Report & Publishing
Establish a clear strategy, messaging and creative to form the basis of all your creative communications
- Custom thematic approaches
- Custom design and layout of content with data
- Infographics
- Brand integration
- Interactive & website solutions
- Printing coordination & supervision
DEEPEN
Message Impact
Amplify your sustainability accomplishments to investors, employees and suppliers
- Thought leadership promotion through traditional and digital media
- Investor communications integration for road shows, investor presentations and Investor Day
- Awareness & engagement programs and campaigns
- Ratings agency submissions
- Awards submissions
Book a Presentation
Whether new or experienced in ESG reporting, partner with us to focus on making your business sustainable, while we take care of the reporting process.
Contact our Marketing Director at (314) 256‑2207 or complete our Inquiry form.
INAUGURAL REPORT
Developing Your First Sustainability Report?
There is a science and art to developing ESG and Sustainability Reports. Working with a reporting partner who can help guide you through the reporting process can help improve the outcome and ultimate success of your report.
We have also helped new clients with their inaugural ESG report. In these instances, having a GRI Certified Sustainability Professional as a member of our leadership team as well as others trained and certified in ESG fundamentals and disclosures by the Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) has been particularly helpful to our clients.
Check out our recent examples and resources to help you improve your next ESG or sustainability report.
Inaugural ESG, CSR and sustainability reports completed since 2018
The average number of months required to complete a report
SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING STRATEGIES
Your First Sustainability Report? Follow this roadmap to success.
BEST PRACTICES
Best Practices for
ESG & Sustainability Report Design
A well-crafted ESG report employs simple and precise language, well-organized sections, and visual aids to efficiently communicate information to stakeholders. Adhering to the best practices mentioned below can enhance the design of your report, enabling stakeholders to gain a better understanding of your company’s sustainability initiatives and their impact.
1
Choose a horizontal page format for your report
Using a horizontal or “landscape” page format aligns with computer screens and laptops. This minimizes scrolling and takes advantage of a full-screen view, which is the preferred orientation for most reports published today.
2
Create a clear report structure and supporting navigation
To make your report easy to read and understand, it’s important to create a clear structure based on the main topic areas of your report. Since most sustainability report have adopted a PDF format, we recommend a global navigation system that supports this structure. It’s also a good idea to include hyperlinks that allow readers to quickly jump to different parts of the report or external resources like websites and videos for more information.
3
Include visual breathing space
Whitespace not only creates harmony and balance; it also leads readers from one element to another. The use of whitespace can help to balance out dense content, making it more dramatic and important. For example, we created visually spacious opener pages for each section of the Fortune Brands ESG Report. This made key topics easier to understand and absorb when they were presented in a simplified way.
4
Aggregate data and highlight progress
Data and metrics play a crucial role in telling your ESG story. Your stakeholders are keen on knowing about your progress, so it’s essential to be transparent and realistic about what you know and what you don’t. It’s important to showcase the direction in which you are heading, even if measuring or benchmarking is challenging. Highlight key statistics, ongoing progress, and peer comparisons throughout the report while maintaining transparency.
5
Create and select quality imagery
The quality of the images included in your report can significantly impact your company’s brand. However, many companies tend to rely too heavily on stock photography and images captured by employee smartphones. While convenient they may not always be the best solution. It’s not uncommon to see the same stock images being used across multiple reports, even within the same peer group. Smartphone images often have low resolution and are poorly lit or cropped.
Our photography team has captured hundreds of photos and videos for our clients. We have also assisted clients in hiring independent photographers to capture their employees, processes, and facilities. We ensure consistent style through photo guidelines. The images can be used for corporate communications to demonstrate their commitment to ESG.
To learn more read our article on Strategies for Impactful ESG Images or Sustainability Photos.
6
Deepen the impact of your ESG story
Amplify your sustainability accomplishments to investors, employees, and suppliers. ESG marketing can provide new opportunities to share the highlights and ongoing ESG efforts within your company. This allows for easy and understandable ways to communicate important ESG messages and future goals, which will keep your stakeholders engaged and will enhance the company’s brand image and reputation.
Also consider creating a thought leadership campaign or promotion through traditional and digital media. Additionally, awareness and engagement programs and campaigns can be helpful in spreading the word.
To learn more read our article on How to Market Your ESG Strategy to Stakeholders.