The ERA CSR KPI Guidance Framework is a tool to enable rental companies to assess their current approach to sustainability performance measurement and reporting, and rate how well they perform against an industry framework.
It also provides a practical approach to implementing a sustainability measurement and reporting framework depending on an organisation’s level of maturity, from getting started, with nothing currently in place, to industry best practice.
To support self-assessment and the practical implementation by a rental company, the framework allocates sustainability KPIs to one of three categories:
- Minimum or “getting started” list
KPIs which are most frequently looked at by stakeholders and also are most closely aligned with current and future regulatory reporting and are in most common usage across the industry. The minimum (or “getting started”) KPIs are those KPIs that any company, no matter how large or small, should put in place, as these are the KPIs that will be required to meet the needs of key stakeholders, such as customers and regulators.
- Good practice
KPIs which are frequently implemented and reported against after implementation of the minimum KPI set. They are considered good practice by stakeholders and align with key topics of interest for stakeholders and the expectation of stakeholders that a rental company with a mature or good practice sustainability strategy would have these KPIs in place and be reporting against them at least annually. Good practice KPIs should be considered as optional, and, when in place, will demonstrate good practice to stakeholders and should be in place in larger and more sophisticated companies.
- Best practice
The final set of KPIs are measures which can be regarded as best practice in sustainability measurement and reporting and would be considered best practice by stakeholders, and that demonstrate that a rental company has a best practice sustainability strategy and is an industry leader in the area of sustainability.
How to use this Guidance Framework
In using this report, it is suggested that rental companies use the report in the following three main ways:
1. Review and update the current approach to ensure sustainability reporting needs of stakeholders are met, based on the recommendations within this report, noting the minimum, good practice and best practice recommendations for each of the eight areas
2. If there is not already a sustainability KPI framework in place, create a framework which is most suitable for your organisation by implementing minimum, good practice or best practice KPIs as appropriate to the size, complexity and sophistication of your organisation
3. Develop a sustainability reporting action plan, starting with a plan to introduce the minimum recommended KPIs in each area, moving onto good practice as you mature your approach and finally implementing best practice and becoming an industry leader
This Guidance Framework is very practical in nature with worked examples for each KPI. It recommends how KPIs align with current and forthcoming legislation and suggests an implementation framework for a rental company to follow, which takes them from a “getting started” position, to progressing to implementing good practice and finally developing to a position of best practice and industry leadership.
In addition to reporting against the KPIs detailed in the report, reporting against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is increasing in importance across the industry. To prepare for future SDG reporting and to avoid increasing reporting complexity for rental companies, the report has a section detailing how leading companies are linking sustainability KPI reporting to the SDGs.
The CSR KPI guidance framework covers the following eight areas:
- People
- Health and Safety
- Training
- Environment (including rental unit emissions / environmental impacts)
- Supply Chain
- Anti-Corruption and Bribery
- Circularity (including recycling)
- Other
For each area, the report details the common KPIs in use across the industry, provides real examples drawn from across the industry of how they are used in practice and provides a worked example of how each KPI can be calculated and reported against. It also highlights alternatives and common alternatives in use and colour codes each KPI.
Finally, the report provides a checklist that companies can use to assess what (if anything) they have in place and can see if this fully meets the needs of minimum, good and best practice sustainability KPI reporting.
For further information please contact: era@erarental.org
