ESG Ratings and Sustainability Indicators: A Practical Guide for Companies

Ar19
Apr 9
11 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

From Standards to Competitive Advantage: The Evolved Meaning of ESG for Modern Business

For many companies, talking about ESG still means complying with an obligation, meeting regulatory requests, or “compiling a report”. A static approach, often disconnected from the beating heart of the organization: the people, the processes, the internal culture. But today, in an ever-evolving regulatory landscape (CSRD, Taxonomy, SFDR), this is no longer enough.

Businesses that truly aim to be competitive and sustainable know that ESG is not an exercise in compliance, but a path of cultural transformation. It's not just about what you measure, but how and why you act.

From this perspective, sustainability ceases to be a business function and becomes a transversal grammar. It begins to permeate HR strategies, governance, supply chain, stakeholder dialogue and performance criteria. The integration of organizational culture, sustainability, and business results is what distinguishes a resilient organization from a formally “compliant” one.

The paradigm shift is evident: from a logic of fulfillment to a logic of impact and anticipation of risk. An organization with an evolved ESG culture not only measures the final data, but identifies weak signals, interprets human dynamics, and builds predictive indicators that guide strategic decisions.

In this context, the AR19 approach positions itself as an enabler of profound transformations, thanks to a systemic methodology that starts with people, works on perception and motivation, and builds personalized, concrete, and scalable roadmaps.

What ESG ratings really are and why they are not enough

ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) ratings are rating systems that measure, on a comparative basis, companies' environmental, social, and governance performance. They are tools born for the financial world, with the aim of offering investors a useful benchmark for orienting capital towards companies deemed “responsible” or “sustainable”.

Each rating agency adopts its own methodology, based on dozens (in some cases hundreds) of quantitative and qualitative indicators: emissions, environmental policies, diversity, internal governance, transparency, human rights, accidents, sanctions, disputes. The final result is often summarized in a score or range, from highest (AAA or similar) to lowest (CCC or worse).

But here lies the limit: the ESG rating is a photograph, not a film. It describes an instant, not an evolution. It rewards those who know how to report, not necessarily those who know how to transform. It risks becoming a retrospective assessment, based on historical data, and often misaligned with respect to the transformative potential of the enterprise.

Furthermore, many ratings are based on public or self-referential sources (sustainability reports, voluntary communications, external data). This opens up the possibility of document greenwashing: the appearance of sustainability, without real integration into decision-making processes.

For a company that wants to make a real difference –and not just get a “green stamp” – the ESG rating is a milestone, not the finish line. We need an approach that goes beyond standardized scores: capable of reading cultural dynamics, real behaviors, and the coherence between declared values and everyday practices.

That's why more and more organizations are choosing to complement or surpass traditional ratings with transformative ESG pathways, built on predictive data, people engagement, sustainable leadership, digital tools, and evolutionary mappings. Just like in the projects developed by AR19.

The AR19 model: integrating Culture, Leadership and Sustainability

When it comes to corporate sustainability, you often fall into a paradox: everyone talks about change, but few actually activate it. This happens because change doesn't start with reports, but with people. And this is the heart of the AR19 approach.

AR19 is not limited to “measuring” or supporting companies in ESG reporting. Design cultural transformations. It accompanies organizations in rethinking their foundations: behaviors, leadership, decision-making systems, languages, routines. And it does so with a unique and integrated methodology, combining ESG strategies, safety culture, organizational health, and leadership development.

The AR19 Model: A Transformative 4-Step Roadmap

Fase	Obiettivo	Strumenti
1. Assessment & Engagement	Understand the current level of sustainable culture and security. Involve management and people.	Interview, focus group, workshop, perception survey, behavioral audit, cultural KPI analysis.
2. Development & Coaching	Activate skills and motivation. Train sustainable and impact-generating behaviors.	Sustainable leadership, safety coaching, HR4Safety pathways, experiential training, talent mapping.
3. KPI & Performance	Measuring progress. Integrate culture into ESG processes and strategy.	Predictive KPIs, integrated ESG-security dashboard, behavioral golden rules, organizational routines.
4. Review & Strategy	Consolidate the change. Building a scalable sustainable culture.	Workshop con il top management, roadmap di lungo periodo, azioni smart win, formazione del formatore, follow-up evolutivi.

This methodology has been successfully applied in industrial, retail, service, and complex infrastructure settings, bringing tangible results: a 90% reduction in EHS events, improved engagement, enhanced operational decision-making, and a true integration of sustainability, risk, and performance.

The key element? The culture. AR19 starts from a clear vision: there is no sustainability without culture, and there is no culture without people involved. For this reason, each project is built to measure, starting from company values and aligning behaviors, roles, and objectives.

Data, predictive KPIs and transformative indicators

In the traditional ESG context, measurement often focuses on final indicators: amount of CO₂ emitted, number of injuries, percentage of women in senior positions, presence of a code of ethics, etc. These data are useful, but they come after something has happened. They serve to tell the story of the past, not to guide the future.

AR19 turns this logic on its head.

His approach is based on a simple principle: to prevent, you must anticipate. To improve, you need to understand what generates those numbers. This is why a new category of indicators comes into play in the paths designed by AR19: predictive KPIs.

What are predictive KPIs and why do they make a difference?

Predictive KPIs do not measure “how much happened”, but how likely it is to happen. They are based on:

Observable behaviors (e.g., correct use of PPE, conducting safety meetings, presence and participation in training programs, and effective and effective use of sustainability and organizational well-being tools)
Routines implemented or disregarded (toolbox, briefing, walk-round, feedback)
Perception of risk and weak signals detected in teams
Level of consistency between stated values and actual organizational choices
Engagement of people with respect to shared rules, culture and goals

These examples of indicators are enriched and adapted on the basis of a tailor-made design for each company, thanks to joint work with management, HSE managers, HR business partners and operational team leaders. Dynamic dashboards are built, allowing you to visualize the progress of culture routines and the effectiveness of the actions undertaken.

From Indicator to Action: A Transformative Logic

In AR19, data is never an end. They are a tool to stimulate dialogue, decisions and continuous improvement. Each predictive KPI is linked to concrete and measurable behaviors, which can be trained, reinforced and monitored with:

Custom Safety & Sustainability coaching for managers and operatives in position “key”
Experiential training and role play
Structured feedback and awareness workshops
Internal communication plans to strengthen messages and values adapted to organizational characteristics and individual differences
In this way, data is transformed into a lever for learning and change.

Data-driven culture, but people-centered

Unlike standardized ESG ratings, the AR19 approach does not rely on impersonal checklists or rankings. The focus is on a living, measurable organizational culture: the one built in everyday behaviors, decisions under pressure, moments of crisis, feedback from colleagues, silences, and weak signals that often anticipate a risk or opportunity.

Measuring these aspects requires expertise, involvement, and method, but it provides a true picture of an organization's ESG level. And most importantly, it offers the ability to act early, before problems emerge, before negative data appears in reports.

How to build an ESG strategy with real impact

The word “strategy” is overused. Too often it is confused with goals or reduced to a fragmented set of actions, a well-packaged communication plan, or a policy document with no roots in everyday behavior. But a true ESG strategy is a coherent, integrated path experienced by the entire organization. And most of all: it's transformative.

AR19 accompanies companies in building custom-designed ESG roadmaps, capable of connecting values, people, processes and results. It starts not from theory, but from business reality, actively involving all key figures.

Step 1: Assessment and engagement

It all starts with listening deeply to the organization. This is not an audit “over the counter”, but a participatory diagnostic process:

Interviews with top managers, managers, strategic stakeholders
Focus groups with operatives, contractists, staff
Analysis of organizational and corporate “government” characteristics
Survey on risk perception, culture and integrity
Mapping visible behaviors and motivational levers

The result is an authentic photograph of corporate ESG culture that offers the opportunity for an effective and tailored evolutionary path. Not only “what people think”, but how they actually act. This is where awareness of the starting point comes from and the definition of so-called quick wins as the first step: targeted actions, with low economic impact, but high transformative value.

Step 2: Sustainable leadership and talent mapping

The second step is to invest in the people who make a difference. In every organization there are “champions” and key figures who can accelerate or block change. For this reason AR19 proposes:

Individual and group coaching paths for managers, managers and team leaders
HR4 Safety & Sustainability Tools to Read Decision Dynamics and Motivational Drivers
Sustainable, ethical and transformational leadership workshops
Development plans to train soft skills, listening, ambiguity management, interpersonal communication

In parallel, work is being done on ESG governance design, with the creation of clear committees, roles, and responsibilities consistent with the desired culture.

Step 3: Internal communication and golden rules

An ESG strategy needs a shared language. Slides or slogans aren't enough: you need words that transform into behaviors. AR19 works alongside HR and communications directorates to:

Define the “golden” management and operational rules to be disseminated throughout the company starting from the values and mission
Design internal multi-channel campaigns, experiential events and engagement moments
To tell and know how to tell the current path authentically and transparently

The whole process is based on cultural routines: simple, replicable, measurable behaviors. These are the real foundations of sustainable change.

Step 4: Digital Tools, Dashboards, and Evolutionary Measurement

Each roadmap includes structured verification moments, with digital monitoring tools and customized dashboards. Here, predictive and behavioral KPIs combine with official ESG data, offering an integrated view of performance and risk.

It's not just about numbers, but about signals that guide strategy: when to intervene, what to strengthen, where to change approach. In this way, the ESG path is not static, but alive, adaptive, scalable. With these four steps – assessment, leadership, communication and measurement – the ESG strategy becomes concrete, real, participatory. And above all: it generates a measurable impact on people, the environment, reputation and economic results.

The concrete benefits: ROI of ESG culture

Talking about ESG without talking about impact is a sterile exercise. Sustainability, to be credible, must generate value: for people, for the environment, for the community… and for business. It is on this balance that the competitiveness of today's businesses is played out. The projects developed by AR19 demonstrate that a sustainable organizational culture not only improves reputation, but produces tangible results. It's not an ethical promise, it's a strategic lever.

The main benefits for companies adopting a transformative ESG approach

Facilitated access to credit and sustainable funds, thanks to a certifiable reputation and a better risk profile.
Significant reduction in incidental events and injuries, thanks to the introduction of predictive routines and an integrated safety culture.
Greater attractiveness for ESG-oriented talent and professionals, who seek environments consistent with their values.
Involvement and higher internal motivation, with direct effects on productivity and retention.
Resilience and Antifragility in times of crisis, thanks to cohesive governance and leadership capable of managing uncertainty and transformation.
Increased operational efficiency, thanks to more streamlined decision-making processes and a widespread culture of accountability.

The cultural approach has been implemented in high-risk and highly complex sectors (energy, chemicals, shipbuilding, retail, infrastructure), obtaining documented results:

–91% of EHS accidents in a European manufacturing portfolio.
Zero injuries in a chemical plant for over 40 consecutive months.
–72% TRCF (Total Recordable Case Frequency) on a $9 billion construction project in the United States.
60% reduction in critical events at a refinery in the Far East.
Quintuple increase in observations of safe behavior at an extractive site.

This data doesn't come by accident: it's the result of co-designed customer journeys, trained leadership, monitored routines, authentic engagement with people on the front lines

Ratings, certifications, and a sustainable future: how to build a credible and durable strategy

Companies often see ESG Ratings and certifications as alternative tools. In reality, they serve both and must be integrated coherently. Ratings offer a dynamic assessment of corporate sustainability, useful for stakeholders and investors. Certifications (such as ISO 14001, ISO 45001, or SA8000), on the other hand, attest to compliance with recognized regulatory standards. AR19 considers them complementary: certifiable management systems ensure structure and continuity; ESG ratings and indicators measure evolution, impact, and cultural maturity. Integrating the two levels allows for the construction of a robust, scalable, and verifiable ESG roadmap over time, using a sustainability management system integrated with the company's business logic and change management needs.

Companies today face real challenges: difficulty collecting reliable data, risks of greenwashing, and poor people's participation in ESG pathways. But it is precisely these critical issues that make a new approach urgent. AR19 responds with concrete tools: predictive KPIs, behavioral mappings, evolutionary dashboards, experiential training, and active involvement of leadership and operational teams. In a world governed by CSRD and driven by artificial intelligence, it is no longer enough to adapt. We need to design ESG “by design”, work towards scenarios, and transform ESG from an obligation to a strategic competence. For those who choose to lead –and not chase– change, ESG becomes a new business grammar, where culture, data, and people speak the same language.

Today it is no longer enough “to be ESG compliant”. You need to act consistently, design with vision, and measure intelligently. Ratings and indicators are not the end point, but evolutionary tools of a deeper path: that of organizational culture that knows how to transform values into behaviors, strategies into results, leadership into impact.

Those who choose to invest in sustainability with this approach are changing their pace. It not only gets a good rating, but builds a credible, resilient, and attractive corporate identity. An enterprise capable of approaching change not as a risk, but as a lever for growth. AR19 supports these companies every day, with concrete methods, data and tools. Because ESG, if truly integrated, is not just an ethical choice: it is the most evolved form of strategy.

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions about ESG Ratings and Corporate Sustainability

What is an ESG rating really?

It is an assessment of an organization's environmental, social, and governance performance. ESG ratings provide a synthetic snapshot, but they do not always tell the story of the effective integration of sustainability into corporate culture and behavior.

Why aren't ESG ratings enough on their own?

Because they primarily measure historical data and formal statements. They do not detect cultural maturity, the effectiveness of organizational routines, or risk anticipation. For this reason, it is essential to combine a cultural transformation path with predictive indicators.

What is the difference between ESG ratings and certifications such as ISO 14001 or 45001?

Certifications attest to compliance with specific regulatory standards. ESG ratings, on the other hand, offer a broader and more dynamic analysis, useful for assessing the overall commitment to sustainability. Integrating them allows you to build a more solid and credible strategy.

How is ESG behavior and culture measured in the company?

Through qualitative and quantitative assessments: interviews, focus groups, perception surveys, behavioral mappings, and predictive KPIs. AR19 uses specific tools to transform this data into strategic levers for change.

What benefits does a truly integrated ESG culture bring?

Reduced operational risk, improved reputation, access to sustainable funds, talent attraction, increased internal engagement and strategic flexibility. The return is measurable in both economic and organizational terms.

What are predictive KPIs and why are they important?

They are indicators that measure behaviors and routines that can anticipate future performance. Unlike final indicators, they allow us to prevent problems and guide continuous improvement.

What does “ESG by design” mean?

It means designing processes, governance, and business strategies with sustainability as the guiding criterion, right from the start. These are not successive adjustments, but an integrated and coherent logic.

How can the risk of greenwashing be avoided?

Through consistency between statements and actions, transparency in data, real engagement with people, and evolutionary measurement systems. The AR19 method helps companies build an authentic and credible ESG narrative.

Can AI support ESG?

Yes. AI allows you to analyze large amounts of data, identify hidden patterns, predict risks, and optimize ESG decisions. When integrated with conscious governance, it becomes a powerful accelerator.

Where does a serious ESG journey begin?

From listening to the organization, structured cultural assessment, and clear, shared, and measurable goals. Engaging people, leadership, and processes is the first step to real change.