The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), through its School of Business Environment (SoBE), in collaboration with UNICEF, organised a one-day workshop on Business Responsibility & Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) in New Delhi today. The objective of the workshop was to build the capacity and awareness of the participants on the emerging trends and best practices of BRSR in relation to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues.

The workshop was inaugurated by Shri Praveen Kumar, Director General & CEO, IICA, who highlighted the importance of ESG as a strategic tool for businesses to create value and mitigate risks. He quoted business case studies wherein effective ESG strategy and reporting have contributed to enhanced reputation and overall-performance of the businesses. He also highlighted the significant role IICA has continued to play in promoting corporate sustainability as IICA has provided technical inputs for National Voluntary Guidelines, NGRBC and BRSR framework, among other key policy interventions. While highlighting that BRSR is a dynamic reporting framework, he also emphasised that it is aligned with international reporting frameworks as well. He urged the participants to integrate ESG in their core compliance practices and conduct detailed assessments to accurately identify the key materiality issues in their respective domains. On a concluding note, he urged the professionals  to endeavour to transform their businesses or organisations into  responsible entities by aiding  effective integration of ESG factors  into their business operations, over and above mandatory compliance.

The workshop featured five technical sessions by eminent experts from academia, industry and civil society, who covered various aspects of BRSR and ESG such as interpreting the 'S' of ESG by Mr. Dinesh Agrawal, applying family friendly policies in business by Mr. Shubrajyoti Bhowmik, understanding the interlinkages among ESG-BRSR-NGRBC by Prof. Garima Dadhich, measuring carbon footprints of businesses and disclosing them in BRSR by Dr. Sidhant Pai, effectively reporting occupational health and safety factors in BRSR by Mr. Dheeraj and exploring the global and national reporting landscape by Dr. Inderjeet Singh. The sessions were interactive and engaging, with case studies, Q&A and group discussions. The participants also got an opportunity to network with each other and share their experiences and challenges.

The workshop concluded with a learning recap and way forward session by Prof. Garima Dadhich, Associate Professor & Head, SoBE, IICA, who summarised the key takeaways from the workshop and suggested some action points for the participants to apply their learnings in their respective organizations. She also thanked UNICEF for their collaboration and support in organizing the workshop. The workshop ended with a networking lunch for all the participants.

The workshop was attended by over 70 above participants from various domain experts like, sustainability professionals, ESG professionals, CSR and top leaders. The feedback from the participants was positive and encouraging. They appreciated the quality and relevance of the content, the expertise and delivery of the speakers, and the overall organisation and management of the workshop.

Business leaders requested for more such capacity building workshops by IICA during networking lunch. Further, IICA successfully conducted its series of BRSR workshops at Mumbai, Indore, and Delhi so far. The concluding workshop in this series will be at Bengaluru, Karnataka.

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