‘Sometimes you have to describe trends that are not favorable’
When ČEZ Group realized the data in its sustainability reports was not easily accessible by tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI), it took action.
‘We found that our reports are not AI-readable at all,’ said Kateřina Bohuslavová, chief sustainability officer and head of ESG office at the energy company.
‘And when I say not at all, I mean zero: there was zero readability. So basically what we did was to find software and find co-operation between humans and AI.
‘It’s people who write our report but then we use software to process it and make it AI-readable [as well as] human-readable. And that allows for extraction. We actually have great feedback. We know from some of the ratings agencies that they’re able to extract our data within 24 hours.’
Bohuslavová was speaking on the red carpet at the IR Magazine Awards – Europe 2023, where ČEZ Group was nominated for best ESG reporting (large cap).
Transparency matters
Asked what advice she would offer to other companies on communicating about ESG issues effectively, she said you need to tell your story without spin.
‘That means sometimes you have to describe trends that are not favorable. We need to normalize that,’ said Bohuslavová.
‘I think that comes across as genuine and makes your successes more believable than when you just write something that will be called a marketing report. Because for data to have meaning, it cannot be marketing reports. It has to be genuine.’
Turning to ESG priorities, ČEZ Group is focused on new reporting rules and providing more information about supply chains, said Bohuslavová.
‘These are two big tasks in front of us – to prepare for new standards and prepare for extraction of data for our supply chains,’ she said.
‘And to do that well and quickly and transparently, and with as few errors as possible, we want to automate the process and also make it audit-ready. So that’s going to be a huge task for our IT department to help us along the way.’
To find out more about the IR Magazine Awards – Europe 2023, click here.
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