Multiple years of research went into the report Veerless launched in Fall 2025, ESGPS: Navigating Investor-Ready Sustainability Reporting. After reviewing 1,000s of ESG and sustainability reports from around the world, we decided to focus this first iteration of ESGPS on investor stakeholders in particular. And when we asked ourselves how to learn from that community, we knew one thing for sure: a survey wouldn’t cut it.

Don’t get me wrong, surveys are useful. They give you breadth. But what we needed was depth. And nuance. We wanted to hear the honest, unscripted feedback from the people who actually read (or don’t read) your ESG reports. My background in legal technology and the development of user influenced tech led us to a process that was time intensive, but we knew would work best for this stakeholder group, a traditional UI/UX interview.

You might hear that term and think apps, buttons, websites — and you’d be right. UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) interviews are a gold standard in digital product development. They’re how designers understand not just what users say they want, but how they behave, where they get stuck, and what actually helps them succeed.

So we borrowed from the best in design thinking and applied this method to ESG reports.

Why UI/UX as a Framing Mechanism for Our Research?

Sustainability reports are not static documents. They’re digital products with navigation, hierarchy, structure, logic. And like any digital product, if the user can’t find what they’re looking for quickly, they bounce.

We needed to know:

  • How do investors actually read your report?
  • Where do they start?
  • What makes them stay?
  • What makes them give up the search?

We conducted dozens of 1:1 interviews with analysts, stewardship directors, portfolio managers, and ESG leaders from some of the largest institutional investors in the world.

No group calls. No pre-filled checkboxes. Just a simple ask:

“Show us how you read an ESG report — in real time.”

And then, we watched.

What We Learned

Here’s a glimpse at what surfaced:

  • Most started with the table of contents. If it wasn’t clickable or well-organized, they got frustrated.
  • Nearly everyone hit Ctrl+F within the first 30 seconds.
  • They scanned for keywords: Scope 3, governance, supply chain, compensation, biodiversity — not because they’re buzzwords, but because they’re material.
  • If the data didn’t match the narrative — or if the emissions chart was 40 pages from the context — they bailed.
  • And when asked how they would summarize the company’s ESG strategy after reading? Many struggled to connect the dots.

One of the most common lines we heard was:
“If I can’t find it fast, I move on.”

That quote made it into the report. Because it wasn’t a one-off. It was a recurring theme.

Why It Matters

ESG teams are under immense pressure. You’re reporting to multiple frameworks, multiple stakeholders, and often with minimal support from IT, IR, or legal.

But here’s the thing: if we don’t understand how our stakeholders use what we’re creating, we risk wasting time, money, and trust.

UI/UX interviews helped us reframe the ESG report as a user journey — not a brochure. And that mindset shaped two of the core frameworks in ESGPS:

Together, they help companies shift from reporting that’s performative to reporting that’s practical.

Final Thought: Watch the Reader

In design, there’s a principle: you are not the user. As a COO, I know how tempting it is to optimize for what the CEO wants to see, or what we think looks best. But what matters is what works.

If you’ve never watched someone outside your company use your ESG report, I highly recommend it. Sit with them. Ask no leading questions. Let them click around. And take notes.

That’s the difference between a document and a tool.

That’s what UI/UX interviews gave us.

And that’s why ESGPS isn’t just another white paper, it’s a roadmap to a better reporting experience.

Read the Full ESGPS Report Here