The National Association of Corporate Directors has released a new handbook designed to help boards of directors and senior management understand their respective roles and expectations in enhancing organizational awareness when it comes to the risks and opportunities posed by environmental, social, and governance issues.

“Sustainability awareness has to start with the board,” Carol Casazza, a senior manager for Ernst & Young’s climate change and sustainability services practice, said. Sustainability-related opportunities—such as value creation, long-term business resiliency, and strategic risk management—“need to be factored into the business strategy so that sustainability rises above the operational noise,” she said.

To help boards and senior management achieve this, the NACD published its “Oversight of Corporate Sustainability Activities” handbook, which focuses on four essential recommendations for directors as they consider how best to engage with senior management when addressing environmental, social, and governance issues.

Those recommendations include:

How directors can understand sustainability in the context of the company’s strategy and specific circumstances;

How boards and senior management can align on the sustainability message and information that the company chooses to report publically

How boards can clarify roles for oversight responsibility of sustainability activities, including external reporting; and

How to establish parameters for sustainability reporting to the board regarding information required to support robust discussions with management.

The handbook also offers practical tools such as questions for a board to assess whether it’s “sustainability-ready;” recommendations for raising sustainability awareness; and a sample sustainability committee charter.

Because sustainability issues are company-specific, boards and management teams will need to develop tailored approaches. Directors can adapt the recommendations set forth in the handbook based on their company’s unique characteristics, including size, life-cycle stage, business strategy, industry sector, geographic footprint, and culture.

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