ESG Metrics Every Private Company Should Be Tracking

Most private companies getting their first ESG request don't know which metrics to track. There are hundreds of options across dozens of frameworks, and it's easy to end up either tracking too much or not tracking the right things.

The good news is that for most private companies, the list of metrics that actually matter is shorter than you think. Here's how to figure out what belongs on yours.

Why the framework question comes before the metrics question

Before you pick metrics, you need to know what's driving the request. The metrics that matter for a PE firm's GP reporting template are different from the metrics a large B2B customer is asking about in an RFP. And both of those are different from what you'd report if you were pursuing B Corp certification.

The three most common frameworks private companies encounter are:

SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board): SASB is the most practical starting point for most private companies. It organizes metrics by industry across 77 sectors, which means it tells you which ESG issues are financially material for your specific business. A professional services firm and a pharma company will have very different SASB metrics. The SASB Materiality Finder is free to use and worth spending an hour with. Since 2022, SASB has been integrated into the ISSB standards, which are increasingly being adopted globally.

GRI (Global Reporting Initiative): GRI is a useful reference for understanding the full range of ESG topics a company might disclose on, but it's less of a starting point and more of a resource. GRI covers over 30 topic-specific standards across environmental, social, and governance areas. It's worth knowing about, and some customers or investors may reference it, but most private companies getting their first ESG request don't need to formally adopt GRI. Use it as a reference to understand what a given metric means or how to calculate it, not as a mandatory reporting requirement.

B Corp: The B Impact Assessment isn't a reporting framework in the same way as SASB, but it's a useful reference if you're looking for additional metrics or initiatives in areas like employee wellbeing, community impact, and governance. The workers and community sections in particular cover topics that SASB doesn't always prioritize for service-based industries, including things like employee development, pay equity, and worker ownership. If you're trying to round out your social metrics beyond what your GP or customer is explicitly asking for, the B Impact Assessment is worth a glance even if formal B Corp certification isn't your goal.

If diversity, equity, and inclusion metrics are part of what you're tracking, the Corporate Racial Equity Alliance (founded by PolicyLink, FSG, and JUST Capital) publishes standards and practical guidance specifically focused on racial and economic equity in business.

Most private companies don't need to report against GRI, SASB and B Corp. Pick the one that matches what's actually being asked of you and build from there.

Start with what your investors and customers are already asking for

The simplest way to figure out which metrics matter is to look at what you're already being asked to provide.

If your GP has a reporting template, that template tells you exactly what metrics they want. Start there and build your tracking system around it.

If a customer is sending you ESG questionnaires as part of their supplier program, those questionnaires are your metrics list. Common requests include Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, employee turnover, health and safety data, and supplier diversity spend.

If neither of those applies yet but you want to get ahead of future requests, look at what public companies in your industry are disclosing. Most large companies publish sustainability reports or SASB disclosures. Look at two or three peers and see which metrics appear consistently. Those are the ones that will eventually matter for your sector.

The core metrics most private companies end up tracking

Regardless of industry, most of my clients end up tracking some version of these:

Greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1, 2, and 3). This is the most common first request and the foundation of most ESG programs. Scope 1 covers direct emissions from your operations. Scope 2 covers emissions from purchased electricity. Scope 3 covers everything else, including business travel, employee commuting, and supply chain. Most investors and large customers want all three.

Energy consumption. Total energy use in MWh or GJ, broken down by source where possible. If you're in a building with a lease, this usually means pulling utility bills. If you have multiple offices, you need data from each one.

Employee turnover rate. Calculated as the number of employees who left in a year divided by the average headcount. This is one of the most commonly requested social metrics and one of the easiest to track if you have basic HR data.

Employee headcount by gender. Most frameworks ask for at least a basic breakdown of your workforce by gender. Some also ask for diversity data at the management level separately.

Health and safety. At minimum: total recordable incident rate (TRIR) and lost time incident rate (LTIR). For professional services companies with low physical risk, these are often close to zero, but investors still want them documented.

Employee training hours. Total hours of training per employee per year. This is a standard social metric across SASB, GRI, and B Corp.

Data privacy and security. For companies handling customer data, especially in professional services, fintech, and pharma, the number of data breaches and your information security practices are increasingly material. SASB specifically calls this out for technology and professional services sectors.

Industry-specific metrics worth knowing about

SASB breaks metrics down by sector. A few examples relevant to client industries:

Professional services (SASB: Professional & Commercial Services). Key metrics include employee engagement, diversity and inclusion data, data security, and business ethics. Energy and emissions are usually less material than for asset-heavy industries.

Pharma and life sciences (SASB: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals or Pharmaceutical Retailers). Key metrics include product safety, clinical trial transparency, access to medicines, and employee health and safety. Supply chain accountability is also material.

Consumer goods (SASB: varies by subsector). Key metrics typically include packaging, water use, supply chain labor standards, and product lifecycle impact.

If you're not sure which SASB sector applies to your business, the Materiality Finder lets you search by industry description and shows you which topics are considered financially material for that sector.

How peer benchmarking helps — and where to find data

Once you know which metrics to track, peer benchmarking tells you whether your performance is reasonable relative to your industry. It's also one of the most useful things to bring into a GP conversation. Being able to say "our Scope 1 and 2 emissions are in line with the median for our sector" is more credible than just presenting a number in isolation.

For PE-backed companies: the EDCI benchmark

The most useful benchmarking tool for PE-backed private companies is the ESG Data Convergence Initiative (EDCI). Founded in 2021, the EDCI now has over 500 GP and LP members representing roughly $59 trillion in assets under management. It was built specifically to solve the problem that private equity firms and their portfolio companies had no consistent, comparable ESG data to work with.

The EDCI established six core categories for ESG reporting: greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, board diversity, work-related injuries, net new hires, and employee engagement. These six metrics are the de facto standard for PE-backed companies in the US and increasingly globally. If your GP is asking for ESG data and hasn't given you a specific template, the EDCI metrics are a safe starting point.

The EDCI publishes an annual benchmark report showing median performance across these metrics by sector and geography. If your GP is an EDCI member, and many are, they may already be using this benchmark to evaluate your performance relative to peers. Knowing where you stand is worth understanding before your next investor conversation.

Find the EDCI metrics guidance and benchmark data.

For companies without a PE investor: industry peer research

For public companies, sustainability reports and proxy statements are public documents. Most large companies in professional services, pharma, and consumer goods publish annual ESG data. A review of two or three competitors or industry leaders will show you which metrics they're disclosing, what targets they've set, and roughly where their numbers land.

For private companies, formal benchmarking is harder since most don't publish ESG data. Industry associations are one source. Some trade groups publish aggregated ESG data for their sectors. The GRI database has reports from thousands of companies and lets you filter by industry and company size, which is useful for seeing what peers are disclosing even if you don't plan to use GRI yourself.

Track the questionnaires you're already receiving

One of the most practical things you can do before picking a framework is to pull together every ESG or sustainability questionnaire you've received in the last 12 months. Most private companies are already getting these from customers, and the pattern across them tells you exactly which metrics matter most for your specific business.

Create a simple spreadsheet and log each questionnaire you've received: who sent it, when, which topics it covered, and which specific metrics or data points it asked for. After three or four questionnaires, patterns will emerge. You'll see the same topics coming up repeatedly, usually greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, supplier standards, diversity data, and health and safety.

This exercise does two things. First, it gives you a practical starting point for your metric list that's grounded in what your actual customers care about. Second, it shows you gaps, including questions you couldn't answer, data you didn't have, and topics you hadn't thought about. Those gaps are your highest-priority tracking items.

Some companies find that a single customer's questionnaire is driving most of the urgency. Others are getting requests from five or six different customers and struggling to respond consistently. In both cases, logging and reviewing the questionnaires first gives you a much clearer picture of what you actually need to track than starting with a framework.

How many metrics do you actually need?

For a first ESG program, less is more. A tight set of 8-12 metrics you can track accurately is more credible than a broad set of 30 metrics with gaps and inconsistencies.

Start with whatever your investors or customers are explicitly asking for. Add the metrics that SASB identifies as material for your industry. Then look at what peers are disclosing and fill in anything that's clearly expected in your sector but not yet covered.

Review the list annually. As your program matures, you'll add metrics. But in year one, accuracy matters more than comprehensiveness.

If you want help figuring out which metrics make sense for your specific business, get in touch.

Read more about private company ESG strategy