The challenge

Supporting the Client in establishing its ESG function

Our Client delivers drinking water, recycled water and sewerage services to more than 1.4 million people in South-East Queensland. The Client engaged Rennie to support the establishment of a new Environmental Social Governance (‘ESG’) framework and function and also undertake a materiality assessment of ESG issues to inform its future sustainability reporting requirements. The Client later re-engaged Rennie to undertake a re-baselining of its sustainability and ESG practices to inform a sustainability strategy re-fresh.

Our solution

A co-design approach to ESG development

We led a collaborative co-design process to shape the Client’s ESG ambition, priorities, and desired outcomes, underpinned by best-practice insights and strategic analysis to guide effective function design.

Rennie conducted a comprehensive desktop review of existing ESG documentation and previous design work to compile a long list of relevant ESG topics and issues. This list was refined through stakeholder interviews and workshops using agreed prioritisation criteria to assess relative materiality.

Once material topics were confirmed, Rennie identified the most appropriate sustainability reporting frameworks to ensure transparent and meaningful disclosure aligned with industry standards.

Rennie later conducted a current state assessment of the Client’s sustainability and ESG practices in a subsequent year. This involved extensive desktop review and stakeholder engagement to ascertain activity and maturity across ESG topic areas, and identify key gaps, and priority areas for future effort.

Our impact

Establishing a strategic ESG foundation for the Client.

We delivered a comprehensive suite of ESG advisory services that advanced the Client’s sustainability maturity and strategic positioning. Through a peer analysis of ESG approaches in the water industry, we benchmarked best practices to inform the Client’s direction.

A maturity assessment of the Client’s current ESG activities provided a clear baseline, enabling the development of a tailored ESG strategic ambition, including defined priorities, outcomes, initiatives, and metrics. We recommended a fit-for-purpose ESG reporting framework and governance structure, complete with function design and an implementation roadmap.

To support robust stakeholder engagement and decision-making, we developed a materiality assessment tool and facilitated a workshop to identify and prioritise material topics. This culminated in a recommended sustainability reporting framework aligned with leading standards, positioning the Client to lead in ESG performance and transparency.

Rennie delivered an updated ESG baseline in the following years which highlighted ESG topic areas in which the Client’s maturity had improved and indicative performance against water sector peers. The updated baseline examined areas in which the external policy environment and/or internal approaches had shifted in the intervening years, providing insights to assist the Client in prioritising ESG activities to align with stakeholder expectations in its updated sustainability strategy.

Key insights

• Through the co-design process and stakeholder engagement, it became clear that generic ESG strategies are insufficient for the water industry. The Client’s ESG ambition needed to reflect unique sectoral challenges, such as climate resilience, water security, and community impact, while also leveraging opportunities for innovation and circular economy practices. This insight helped shape a more targeted and meaningful ESG strategy.
• The materiality assessment process highlighted the importance of involving diverse internal stakeholders to surface what truly matters to the organisation and its communities. The prioritisation workshops revealed that ESG topics such as environmental stewardship, social equity, and governance transparency are not just compliance issues but strategic imperatives. This reinforced the value of a participatory approach in building legitimacy and alignment around ESG priorities.