To promote awareness of sustainability reporting among small and medium-sized enterprises, provide recommendations, and support the preparation of sustainability report, the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development (VARAM) and Latvian Information and communications technology association (LIKTA), in cooperation with foreign project partners, have developed a free digital platform and ESG assessment tool called “ESG Tool” (esgtool.eu).
The developed digital tool “ESG Tool”, which is currently in the piloting phase, will help assess a company's impact on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects. Companies will be able to map and analyze their position in accordance with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
Alise Artamonova, “COBALT”: “The developed tool will be equally useful both for those who are new to the field of sustainability and for those who have already mastered the basics and want to improve their approach. This tool helps to better understand how to assess material issues and set priorities, not only to report on performance to business partners but also to move most effectively toward risk reduction and the identification of new opportunities.”
This May, companies participating in the piloting met with VARAM and LIKTA to provide their feedback and suggestions for improving the digital tool “ESG Tool”. In the test environment, companies assessed their ESG aspects using a five-step process within the framework of a double materiality assessment (DMA).
During the testing, the user interface, technological indicators, methodological compliance, visual aspects, and accessibility of the tool were analyzed to ensure its usability, effectiveness, and inclusiveness.
Ilga Andersone, “Visma Enterprise”: "We frequently receive questions from both large and small clients as their reporting period approaches – 'What should we do?'. I see great value in the fact that this tool is freely available and serves as a source of information for companies. As recently as last year, there was a general sense that companies had to hire a consultant for these matters, which of course involved significant costs – something that smaller businesses often cannot afford. This tool definitely offers added value and will be an excellent addition to the recommendations we provide to our clients."
Linards Larionovs, SIA "Elektroniskie sakari": “We are also a relatively small company, and in my opinion, this tool could be valuable for small and medium-sized enterprises, mainly because it provides very good guidelines that help steer the company in the right direction and explain what the company really needs, what should be achieved—while reducing the time spent searching for information elsewhere.”
It is planned that this autumn the development of the digital tool “ESG Tool” will be completed and made available free of charge to any company wishing to begin the process of preparing a sustainability report and define its material sustainability aspects within the framework of a DMA.
Latest information about the project:
SusTool (Sustainability reporting tool) project (2023-2025) is financed by Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme 2021-2027, 1 Priority Innovative societies, 1.2 Objective Responsive Public services and it contributes to EUSBSR PA Innovation Action.
Project partners include the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications as the lead partner from Estonia, and as partners: the Ministry of Finance, Zero Waste Estonia and ITL from Estonia; VARAM and LIKTA from Latvia; DIMECC LTD from Finland, INFOBALT from Lithuania and several associated partners from the mentioned countries, as well as Poland. The project will conclude on December 31, 2025.