ESG metrics every company should track (E, S and G)

"Which ESG metrics should we track?" has a longer answer than most lists admit, because the right set depends on your sector and what is material to your business. But a core spine of metrics shows up across almost every framework — ESRS, ISSB/IFRS S1–S2, GRI, SASB — and it is a sound place to start. This is that spine, organized by the three pillars, with why each matters and how it connects to the standards. Treat it as a starting catalog, then narrow to what is material for you.

Environmental (E)

The environmental pillar is where measurement is most mature and most scrutinized.

• GHG emissions — Scope 1, 2 and 3 (tCO₂e). The headline environmental metric; Scope 3 is usually the largest. See the carbon accounting KPIs for the full breakdown.
• Energy consumption and renewable share (MWh; % renewable). A leading indicator of decarbonization.
• Water withdrawal and consumption, especially in water-stressed regions.
• Waste generated and diverted (tonnes; % recycled/recovered) — a circular-economy proxy.
• Carbon intensity (per revenue, per unit) — normalizes impact for growth.

Biodiversity (ESRS E4) and pollution (E2) matter for some sectors but are among the topics Wave 1 reporters could defer under 2026 quick-fix reliefs — a reminder to scope by materiality rather than measure everything.

Social (S)

Social metrics are less standardized but increasingly demanded by investors and regulators.

• Workforce diversity — gender and other representation across the organization and at leadership/board level.
• Gender pay gap — median and mean, a metric with growing regulatory weight.
• Health and safety — total recordable incident rate (TRIR), lost-time injuries, fatalities.
• Employee turnover and retention — voluntary turnover %, a proxy for engagement and culture.
• Training and development — average training hours per employee.
• Value-chain labour — coverage of supplier social assessments, where material.

Governance (G)

Governance is the pillar investors often weight most heavily, because it predicts how the other two are managed.

• Board independence and diversity — % independent directors, board gender balance.
• Business ethics — anti-corruption training coverage, confirmed incidents, whistleblowing cases.
• Executive pay linkage — share of executive compensation tied to ESG or sustainability targets.
• Data privacy and cybersecurity — breaches, and increasingly a material governance topic.
• Supply-chain governance — supplier code-of-conduct coverage and due-diligence rates.

Frameworks: how these metrics connect

The good news is that these metrics feed multiple frameworks at once. ESRS (under CSRD) organizes them by topical standard (E1–E5, S1–S4, G1). ISSB / IFRS S1–S2 focuses on financially material sustainability and climate disclosure and is converging internationally. GRI takes an impact-first view, and SASB provides sector-specific financial-materiality metrics. You do not pick one and ignore the rest — you measure the core spine once, in a governed model, and map it to whichever frameworks apply. Note that after the 2026 Omnibus reforms, the simplified ESRS cut the number of mandatory datapoints substantially while keeping double materiality, so materiality assessment — deciding which of these metrics matter for you — is more important than ever.

The trap: measuring everything

The most common ESG mistake is treating the metric list as a checklist to complete in full. It is not. Frameworks are explicit that you report what is material — the topics that significantly affect your business or where your business significantly affects people and planet. A focused set of well-governed, assured metrics beats a sprawling one nobody can trace. Start from this spine, run a materiality assessment, and cut hard.

Where to start

Structuring these across the three pillars is exactly what an ESG scorecard does. Our 3-pillar ESG scorecard template ships with the E/S/G metric structure pre-built, and the wider ESG catalog covers carbon, CSRD/ESRS and net-zero pathways. For the reporting build itself, see SAP Analytics Cloud for ESG reporting.

Sources: ESRS (EFRAG), IFRS S1–S2 (ISSB), GRI Standards, SASB Standards, and 2026 Omnibus I materials. This article is general guidance; apply your own materiality assessment and framework requirements.