ESG governance for company secretaries

Because the company secretary is usually responsible for making sure that board decisions are properly made, recorded and followed through. Sustainability reporting adds a new set of decisions, records and approvals to that responsibility.

The job is not to calculate every figure yourself. It is to make sure the board and the people preparing the report can see what has been agreed, what is still outstanding and what evidence supports the disclosure, so that the board can sign off with confidence and explain its decisions afterwards.

Governance is the first of the four core content areas in IFRS S1 and S2. A company must disclose the processes, controls and procedures it uses to oversee sustainability-related risks and opportunities, including who on the board is responsible and how they are kept informed.

In practice, that means the board has to make real decisions and be seen to make them: approving the decision to adopt the standards, naming who is accountable, receiving regular updates and approving the final disclosure. Each of those steps needs a record the company secretary can produce. See IFRS S1 and S2 in Africa for the four content areas.

The board should record its decision to adopt the standards, the scope of the reporting, the people accountable for each part of the work and its route for approving the final disclosure. Those records are what a regulator, an assurer or an investor will ask for first.

Each country sets its own rules, but they share one idea: the board owns the disclosure. In Ghana, the sustainability disclosures must be signed by two directors and the Chief Sustainability Officer, and the directors' report must include a statement of the directors' responsibilities for them.

In Kenya, ICPAK expects boards and audit committees to take direct responsibility for the quality and timeliness of disclosures, and treats board sign-off on the first year's disclosures as a key governance indicator. In Nigeria, the first stage of the FRC's readiness test asks for a board resolution approving adoption. For a company secretary, the practical task is the same everywhere: make sure the board signs off figures it can trace to their source. ICPAK's Readiness Report 2026 found Kenyan boards stronger on governance (1.60 out of 4) than on the metrics behind the numbers (1.22), which is exactly the gap to close.

Give every reporting input an owner and a status before the reporting period closes. The company secretary needs to know whether each task is complete, waiting for evidence, awaiting review or blocked by a decision.

Emvert gives the reporting team one shared record of the activity data, the supporting evidence and the progress of every task. You can prepare board updates directly from that record, instead of rebuilding the position from email threads and separate files before every meeting.

A defensible record shows how the company moved from raw activity data to the published disclosure, and who reviewed and approved each stage. It does not depend on someone remembering where a document was saved when the report is already due.

Keep the reporting boundary, the activity data, the evidence, the emission factor version and the approvals connected to the work as it happens. Emvert records who entered, reviewed and approved every figure, and records sign-off section by section, so the person signing can see exactly what was approved and when.

Emvert is the working record for the people who collect, check and prepare sustainability information, and the evidence base the board relies on when it signs off. It keeps every supporting document attached to the figure it supports, with the factor and version behind each calculation recorded.

It does not file reports with regulators, and it does not replace the board's judgement, the company secretary's governance work or professional advice. It gives those people a clearer record to govern, review and defend.

Ask whether the tool shows who owns each input, what has been completed and what evidence supports each figure in the disclosure. Then ask whether the board can receive a usable update without the reporting team spending days assembling one by hand.

If the answer to either question is unclear, the reporting process is not yet ready for the board. Start with ownership and the evidence trail, because those are what the board will be asked to stand behind.

The rules, deadlines and categories of company differ from country to country. Reporting under IFRS S1 and S2 is already mandatory in Tanzania and Zambia and phasing in in Rwanda; it becomes mandatory in Kenya and Ghana from 2027 and in Uganda and Nigeria from 2028. Zimbabwe makes reporting mandatory for its largest companies from 2028, and Ethiopia has approved its own roadmap.

Each country's standard-setter decides which companies report first: NBAA in Tanzania, ZiCA in Zambia, ICPAR in Rwanda, ICPAK in Kenya, ICAG in Ghana, ICPAU in Uganda, PAAB in Zimbabwe and AABE in Ethiopia. See ESG reporting requirements in Africa for each country's rules and official sources, with country pages, starting with Kenya, going into more detail. Nigerian companies are served at emvert.com.ng.

Start with a 30-minute demo built around your reporting cycle. We work through the requirements that apply to your company, the record your board will need, and the next decision that belongs with the board or the reporting team.

Every demo ends with a written quote in your local currency, priced on the number of users and the modules you need.