ESG and EHS: From Principles to Practice

A Practical Guide to Sustainability Strategy, Management and Reporting

Author: Goran Miletic | Publishers: Balkans Forward Foundation and Civoxa | 2026 | English | 221 pages

Short description

A practical guide to ESG and EHS after the 2025 to 2026 regulatory reset. It explains the three pillars in plain language and sets out the standards and laws that apply. It also includes a reporting checklist of more than 100 questions, with guidance on what each answer must contain.

About the guide

Between 2025 and 2026, sustainability regulation went through its most significant reset since the term ESG entered the vocabulary of business and finance. The European Union simplified its reporting and due diligence rules and adopted revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards. The global ISSB standards spread to a growing number of jurisdictions. What changed is the volume of paperwork, not the direction of travel. Investors still price climate risk. Banks still ask about emissions and labour practices. Large companies still need reliable information from their suppliers.

This guide brings together the history, vocabulary, standards and practice of ESG and EHS in one place. It gives equal weight to the environmental, social and governance pillars. It also explains how the operational work of environment, health and safety management becomes the basis of corporate sustainability reporting. The guide reflects laws, standards and guidance in force or formally adopted until October 2026.

What the guide contains

• Understanding ESG and EHS: the history of corporate sustainability from 1953 to 2026, what each pillar covers, how ESG relates to EHS, the business case and the evidence behind it, and direct answers to the questions organisations ask first.
• Fifty essential terms, defined in plain language.
• A map of the sources:

• international norms, including the UN Guiding Principles, the OECD Guidelines, the ILO conventions and Council of Europe instruments;
• reporting standards, including GRI, ISSB, ESRS and the GHG Protocol;
• mandatory requirements in the EU, the United Kingdom, the United States and Asia-Pacific;
• management system standards and ESG ratings.

• Building the foundations: governance, a step-by-step double materiality assessment, the minimum set of policies, targets, data collection, due diligence, and a roadmap from zero to a first report.
• A reporting checklist of more than 100 questions in twelve blocks. For each question, it states what a complete answer must contain, whether the question applies to every organisation or to advanced reporters, and which standards require it.
• Ten cases from global companies, including Ørsted, Nestlé, Apple, Siemens and Novo Nordisk. Two of the cases show what happens when practices fail.
• A chapter for non-profit organisations.
• Annotated resources and two practical tools: an ESG readiness self-assessment and a template register of impacts, risks and opportunities.

Who it is for

The guide is written for:

• board members and executives;
• sustainability, EHS, HR, compliance and finance managers;
• owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises in international value chains;
• investors and advisors;
• non-profit organisations.

It gives newcomers a clear entry point and practitioners a reliable reference. Each reader can follow a path through the guide suited to their role.

For training, advisory support or a presentation of the guide, contact goran@balkansforward.org.