Verdantix Green Quadrant Reveals Leading ESG And Sustainability Consulting Firms In An Ever-Evolving Market

Verdantix Green Quadrant Reveals Leading ESG And Sustainability Consulting Firms In An Ever-Evolving Market

The recently released Verdantix Green Quadrant: ESG and Sustainability Consulting 2024 evaluates 17 of the most prominent ESG and sustainability consulting providers, assessing their capabilities and market momentum. Our analysis entailed two-hour live briefings, 35+ client interviews, and consulting firm responses to a detailed 72-point questionnaire. Consulting firms profiled in the study are: Anthesis, Arcadis, BCG, Bureau Veritas, Capgemini, Cognizant, DEKRA, Deloitte, ERM, EY, JLL, J.S. Held, KPMG, PwC, Ramboll, SLR Consulting and WSP. In the report, Verdantix highlights key insights:

• ESG consulting service buyers benefit from a market composed of players with diverse backgrounds but expanding investment priorities.
  ESG and sustainability issues often require multi-disciplinary perspectives – and the consulting market is made up of diverse players that can enable their clients’ sustainability journeys in different ways. Most firms profiled in this report have been providing some manner of sustainability consulting services for the last two decades. Driven by market demand, the last three years have witnessed these firms build dedicated practices for ESG and sustainability and invest vast resources – material and human – to strengthen consulting capabilities, support newer sustainability concerns and regulations, and tap into new markets.
  
  
• The scale and scope of ESG and sustainability consulting projects are expanding.
  With a substantial increase of touchpoints with ESG across an organization’s operations, and the consequent wider recognition of these, the scale and scope of ESG and sustainability consulting services generally, and projects more specifically, have expanded over the last two years. Verdantix identified four ESG and sustainability consulting segments in the broader landscape: ESG and sustainability corporate strategy; ESG and sustainability data management, reporting and disclosures; operational transformation; and ESG financial advisory. In particular, we noticed a flurry of reporting and disclosure-related projects, as well as a pronounced focus on operationalizing ESG. Often, more complex projects cut across ESG issues and service lines. Further, firms are seeking support to develop and implement strategies that look at ESG as a cohesive framework, compared with previously siloed E, S and G thinking.
  
  
• Consulting firms are leveraging data and digital solutions to deliver insights.
  Consulting firms are using digital tools for scalable ESG consulting services and to deliver crucial insights that require granular sustainability data and advanced analysis. Digital tools allow consulting firms to maximize value creation for their clients by using data to drive effective ESG-related decision-making and to increase efficiency in ESG-linked processes. These tools are a combination of proprietary and third-party software leveraged through partnerships. ESG consulting firms are also making strategic acquisitions to advance their data and digital capabilities – especially around climate technology and carbon emissions calculation and reporting – and are developing ESG use cases for GenAI.
  
  

To learn more about the ESG and sustainability consulting market and the leading providers in this space, read the full report: Verdantix Green Quadrant: ESG And Sustainability Consulting 2024.