Founded in the Netherlands in 2004, EMG is a boutique advisory firm focused exclusively on improving ESG performance. With an experienced team of about 20 consultants, we work with businesses, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. Our services include reporting, strategic development and implementation, and training. EMG has held United Nations Global Marketplace registration since 2012, and is a signatory of the UN Global Compact.

EMG’s Advisory Board is chaired by HRH Prince Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje-Nassau of the Netherlands. Members of the Advisory Board include sustainability investor Gerrit Heyns, the former Danish Minister of Environment Ida Auken, and the co-founder of the Cradle to Cradle design concept, Professor Dr Michael Braungart. EMG consultants regularly contribute to ESG-related publications, conferences and events.

Environmental, Social, Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Growth, ESG Consultants, ESG Experts, Sustainability Consultants, ESG Training, ESG Workshops, ESG Reporting, CSR Reporting, Sustainability Reporting, ESG Strategy, CSR Strategy, and Sustainability Strategy

In our unique approach to economic and business development, we are proactive in transforming the landscape of responsible business, generating sustainable growth and prosperous, inclusive societies worldwide.

EMG has built an impressive and proven track record in supporting governments, businesses and non-profit organizations in reaching their full potential through ESG, and therefore makes an excellent partner for realizing triple bottom line results.EMG and its panel of experts draw on extensive knowledge and experience in the field to create significant value. By adopting a personal approach and working closely with clients and stakeholders, EMG formulates strategies which are innovative, responsible, and transparent.

With this proven track record of achievement, EMG applies world-class systems‐thinking methods to identify and leverage synergies between people, planet, and profit.

EMG is a boutique advisory firm focused exclusively on improving ESG performance. Advising businesses, governments, and NPOs for almost 20 years, we have built the experience and know-how to develop the most effective ESG implementation strategies, frameworks, and tools to achieve rapid and sustainable success.

For almost 20 years, EMG has been the first choice in ESG advisory for governments, businesses and not-for-profit organizations worldwide. Our unique blend of deep insight, coupled with our extensive international experience, make EMG a trusted partner for realizing long-term profit and growth through sustainability and social responsibility on a major scale. A signatory of the UN Global Compact, EMG is also a registered vendor to the United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM). Complying with the UNGM Code of Conduct, and providing services which adhere to the standards set by the United Nations.EMG’s Advisory Board is chaired by Prince Pieter-Christiaan of Oranje-Nassau of the Netherlands. The Netherlands, historically, has an excellent reputation for its high public awareness and advanced approach to sustainable development and ESG, being among the first countries in the world to implement the green economy on a significant scale.

Many companies today take a conventional approach to ESG, focusing largely on minimizing energy consumption, reducing material use, and other forms of cost efficiency. But how does a strategy focused on less help an organization to achieve more? EMG takes a unique, and much more positive, integrated, and strategic approach to ESG, coupling sustainable development with organizational objectives of economic, social and environmental prosperity and growth. Such an approach has the proven capacity to yield desirable outcomes quickly and efficiently, while priming organizations for a secure and prosperous future.

Fully specialized in strategic ESG and sustainable development, EMG has experience in supporting organizations in a diverse range of sectors, all over the world. With native fluency in more than 20 languages, EMG’s project management and research teams are bespoke for each client, ensuring an excellent understanding of client’s industry, culture and stakeholders.Through our award-winning core team of senior advisors and expert consultants, strengthened by our diverse international network of sustainability management specialists, we enable organizations to gain access to the very best minds in ESG so you do not miss a single opportunity.

Over the years, EMG has become a recognized authority in its field. The winner of numerous international awards for its quality service and generated impact, EMG is regularly invited as a keynote speaker and international expert to share its thoughts and opinions on the most important trends in ESG.EMG was elected as the Chair of CSR Summit Dubai, the longest-running conference for sustainable development in the region, serving as a judge on the inaugural CSR Excellence Awards. EMG maintains strong ties with some of the world’s leading universities and serves frequently as a peer reviewer and editor of academic journals.

We advocate that to transform the world into a sustainable one, we must be ambitious, build on our strengths, integrate ESG into the DNA of the organization, and think systemically – placing ‘effectiveness’ before ‘efficiency’.In 2015, after extensive research, and having built up considerable practical experience supporting businesses, government entities, and NGOs in Muslim majority countries, we concluded that mainstream reporting standards appeared to lack local relevance and support in the Islamic community. Understanding the transcending nature of Islamic corporate culture and its compatibility with ESG, we sought to develop a new framework that would capture and capitalize on these elements.

Together with our partners, we thus led the creation of the world’s first reporting framework for ESG based on Islamic values – the Islamic Reporting Initiative (IRI) – as part of EMG’s own contribution to corporate social responsibility. EMG provided the initial funding of EUR 230,000 (no related party transactions) and office space, through an in-kind contribution valued at EUR 25,000. To this day, EMG Founder Drs Daan Elffers has performed all IRI-related duties pro bono.

We see this as possibly the most powerful example of our genuine passion for the subject; our strategic vision in action; and our ability to steer positive change. Significantly, we put our money where our mouth is.

In 2015, after extensive research, and having built up considerable practical experience supporting businesses, government entities, and NGOs in Muslim majority countries, we concluded that mainstream reporting standards appeared to lack local relevance and support in the Islamic community.

Understanding the transcending nature of Islamic corporate culture and its compatibility with ESG, we sought to develop a new framework that would capture and capitalize on these elements.

Together with our partners, we thus led the creation of the world’s first reporting framework for ESG based on Islamic values – the Islamic Reporting Initiative (IRI) – as part of EMG’s own contribution to ESG.

EMG provided the initial funding of EUR 230,000 (no related party transactions). Office space was provided through an in-kind contribution by EMG valued at EUR 25,000 for the period 2015-2016. To this day, EMG Founder Drs Daan Elffers has performed all IRI-related duties pro bono.

About the Islamic Reporting Initiative

The IRI is an independent nonprofit organization leading the creation of the IRI Standard: a reporting standard for ESG based on Islamic values and principles. Its objective is to enable organizations (across all sectors) to inclusively assess, report, verify and certify their ESG and philanthropic programs in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and OIC’s Plan of Action.

By making ESG culturally relevant, the IRI aspires to effectively accelerate the uptake of ESG, and systemically advance the implementation of the Global Goals through nearly a quarter of the world’s population with custodianship for vast reserves of natural resources, e.g. minerals in North Africa, oil reserves in the Middle East, and tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia. Whilst creating an important platform for equal dialogue, we also believe the added transparency will help expedite foreign direct investment into many developing nations.

A registered charity in the Netherlands, the Islamic Reporting Initiative is a participant of the UN Global Compact and an Observer to the UNEP governing body. It held its first roundtable discussion at the COP22 in Marrakesh, and now has members in more than 50 countries. The IRI has won awards ‘for its contribution to sustainable development in the Islamic world’.

Image: IRI Chairman Mohamed Amersi with Nobel Peace Prize laureates the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, and human rights activist Kailash Satyarthi.

Introduction to the Islamic Reporting Initiative by EMG Founder Daan Elffers

Praise for the Islamic Reporting Initiative

The OIC is dedicated to preserving and promoting Islamic values of peace, equality, human dignity, and environmental prosperity. The Islamic Reporting Initiative, in its journey towards making business responsible through the application of ESG and ESG reporting, has many values aligned with our own. The OIC commends the Islamic Reporting Initiative in its efforts in promoting economic, social and environmental prosperity in a manner that is not only impact-oriented and sustainable, but culturally relevant and responsive.

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) – ‘the collective voice of the Muslim world’

The OIC is the second-largest intergovernmental organization after the United Nations

Open public reporting is essential if business is to build and maintain societal trust. It is a key part of the commitment to the principles of the UN Global Compact. So I commend the ambitions of the Islamic Reporting Initiative; by seeking to emphasize and build on our shared values for human and environmental prosperity, the Islamic Reporting Initiative will accelerate progression towards the objectives outlined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals by leveraging business potential.

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart

Chairman, UN Global Compact Foundation

The Islamic Reporting Initiative combines a deeply convincing vision with practical effectiveness. It deserves warm support and collaboration not only from Muslims but also from anyone else who cares for a sustainable economy in a healthily plural world.

Professor David F. Ford OBE

Emeritus Regius Professor of Divinity, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge

The noble Quran contains a message not only concerning human life in itself, but also the world of nature and our responsibility towards it. It orders Muslims to live in harmony not only among themselves but also with the rest of God’s creation. On the basis of its teachings Muslims created a civilization that over the centuries was in balance with what we now call the natural environment. Colonialism and certain weakness in the practice of Islamic teachings relating to the care of His creation caused most Muslim countries to become impervious to their duties towards the natural environment as a result of which some of the most polluted cities, towns, and rivers in the world are now to be found in the Islamic world. The efforts of the Islamic Reporting Initiative are, therefore, to be highly commended and supported as a religion duty by all Muslims who are aware of the seriousness of the environmental crisis. May the efforts of the Islamic Reporting Initiative and other organizations with similar aims succeed by God’s grace and the efforts of dedicated Muslim men and women. Our future depends on this spiritual jihād carried out with God’s succor in this holy effort. wa’l-Llāhu a’lam.

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Professor of Islamic Studies, George Washington University