Sustainability and ESG Services and Solutions

As ESG takes center stage in a rapidly changing business landscape, the question is—how is your organization advancing toward true sustainability?

Every organization is at a different stage in its sustainability journey.

At BDO, we know that one size does not fit all. Whether you’re starting at the beginning with a sustainability self-assessment, adapting your ESG reporting to comply with new regulations, developing a net-zero roadmap, or designing a long-range climate change mitigation plan, we will meet you where you are. 

We see sustainability as the long-term objective, and ESG factors as tools to set goals and measure and report progress. Ultimately, it’s about reducing risk and building sustainable value. Our seasoned ESG professionals offer practical, actionable guidance and services that are tailored to your needs, your priority outcomes and your industry. 

Because we believe that building business sustainably is not just a smart thing to do. It’s the right thing to do.     

Where are you on the sustainability journey?

BDO’s latest CFO Outlook Survey identified varying degrees of maturity for ESG programs. Approximately 15% of CFOs say they are just getting started, 52% are using ESG primarily for compliance, 21% consider ESG to be a strategic imperative, and 12% say ESG is ingrained in the business. 

Where are you on your sustainability journey, and where do you want to go?

Where do we start in building a sustainability strategy?

How BDO Can Help: 
  • Benchmarking and self-assessment
  • Materiality assessment
  • ESG program design with processes and controls
  • Governance structure
  • Carbon footprint measurement
  • Development of a baseline report

How can we get help with SOX, SEC, CSRD or TCFD reporting requirements? 

How BDO Can Help:
  • SEC/SOX readiness
  • CSRD/CSDD/TCFD readiness and reporting
  • ESG attestation readiness
  • Resiliency assessment
  • ESG gap analysis
  • Industry/peer benchmarking
  • Tax transparency
  • FAR/HHS readiness

What will it take to improve our ESG ratings? 

How BDO Can Help:

  • Ratings diagnostic
  • Gap analysis
  • Enterprise risk assessment
  • Supply chain and global value chain assessment
  • ESG attestation
  • DEI assessment
  • Reputation management
  • Climate risk and vulnerability assessment

Can someone help us develop a net zero, decarbonization or emissions reduction plan?

How BDO Can Help:

  • Energy transition roadmap and planning
  • GHG mitigation and offset strategy
  • Supply chain assessment
  • Waste reduction
  • Lifecycle analysis
  • Green project finance 
  • Tax credits and incentives

How do we transform our business to align with our sustainability goals?

How BDO Can Help:

  • Integrated sustainability strategy and operational transformation
  • End-to-end process and cost optimization and waste reduction
  • Full spectrum enterprise risk management
  • Organizational design and optimization
  • Technology enablement and systems selection

We recognize the unique opportunity we have as advisors to the middle market—not only to do our part to advance sustainability and ESG practices within BDO, but to help our clients explore and capture the benefits that integrating sustainability and ESG into operations presents. Sustainable business is just better business.

Karen Baum
Managing Principal, Sustainability & ESG Services

Our Sustainability and ESG Services       

We help companies develop ESG policies and programs, set goals and begin reporting, often in response to customer, investor and/or regulatory pressures. Services include industry benchmarking, materiality assessment, stakeholder engagement, strategic roadmap, program plan, framework selection, target-setting and sustainability reporting.  

Learn More

Assurance on ESG information helps companies improve reliability and accuracy of their ESG data while complying with ESG attestation requirements. We offer limited and reasonable assurance on ESG information, third party ESG assurance and ESG assurance readiness assessments.  

Learn More

We help companies integrate ESG into their overall tax strategy while helping them take advantage of credits and incentives for green investment activities. We have also created BDO Credit Connect, a platform to connect buyers and sellers of carbon credit projects.  

Learn More

We help companies identify and manage complex ESG risks and opportunities in their supply chain. We improve supply chain visibility and transparency by conducting supplier diligence and evaluating procurement tools and processes. We also help companies address EcoVadis vendor assessment requests, supplier diversity and ethical sourcing issues, as well as FCPA and international customs and trade compliance requirements.

We analyze our clients’ carbon footprints as well as the physical and transition risks inherent in climate change and their impact on the organizations’ business and operations. Services include GHG accounting, Scope 1, 2 and 3 measurement and reporting, climate change mitigation strategy and implementation, TCFD compliance and reporting, and climate vulnerability assessments and remediation.

Learn More

We help companies access lower-cost capital by adopting sustainability strategies and programs. Our tax team provides guidance on tax-advantaged "green" investing activities that lower the costs of climate risk mitigation and improve ROI. In addition, our ESG due diligence services help investors determine the impact of ESG risks on their investment thesis, pricing and terms in M&A transactions.

We help our clients address the social aspects of their human capital management practices, recognizing that their workforces are key drivers of operational performance and resilience. We help organizations develop and refine their human capital strategy and policies, including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), compensation and benefits, development and retention, issues management and workplace benchmarking.

We help our clients navigate local policy decisions and strategic community investments based on sustainable financial and equity models. With a shared goal of improving safety, sustainability, and community stewardship, we help our clients achieve ESG regulatory compliance with new and evolving regulations such as CMS, CFR and FAR.

Learn More

We provide learning and development modules and interactive workshops that build knowledge and fill capability gaps to promote strong sustainability strategies and execution. We also lead board and executive management training and ESG awareness modules.

BDO is on its own sustainability journey.

As you walk your path, we are on ours, too. We’ve conducted our own materiality assessment, established goals to be net zero and joined alliances to demonstrate transparency and partnership. And we apply our best practices and lessons learned when we support our clients.  

Stay current with our latest Sustainability and ESG insights.

Meet Our ESG Leaders

  • Professional Headshot of Karen Baum

    Karen Baum

    Managing Principal; Sustainability & ESG Center Of Excellence, BDO USA; Sustainability & ESG Services & Solutions, BDO Global

  • Top Entry Level Employer
  • Top 75 Companies for Executive Women
  • National Best & Brightest Companies to Work For
  • 100 Best Companies for Working Parents