How to Design an ESG Report That Malaysian Investors Will Read

A well-designed ESG report should let an investor find your main numbers in under a minute. In Malaysia, the rules now shape part of that design. Bursa Malaysia’s media release of 23 December 2024 sets out part of it. The sustainability statement must show metrics and targets "for the last 3 financial years on a rolling basis". It must also include "a summary of such data in a prescribed format".

So every listed company now shows three years of figures and a set summary table. The rules set what goes in. Whether anyone reads it depends on the layout, which is what this guide covers.

> Key points

> – Put the data summary where investors expect it, and make every figure in it searchable text.

> – Show three years side by side for every metric. Investors look for the trend first.

> – Organise the section by the four climate areas, with the same headings every year.

> – Use charts for change over time and tables for exact figures. Never put a number only inside an image.

Already know whether you must report, and when? If not, read whether ESG reporting is compulsory in Malaysia first. This article assumes you are already writing one.

What investors do when they open an ESG report

Many investors and analysts do not read the section from start to end. They scan it. They look for four things:

1. The headline figures, such as emissions, energy use and targets.
2. The trend over the years shown.
3. Who is responsible on the board.
4. How the figures were checked.

Bursa requires a statement on that last point. The same release says the company must state whether the sustainability statement went through internal review by its internal auditor or independent assurance. Design for this scanning. Each of those four answers should be easy to find from the contents page.

Start the ESG report with the summary, not the story

Many reports open with a long message about values and a photo of trees. Investors skip it. Put the prescribed data summary near the front of the section instead, or link to it clearly from the first page.

Treat the summary table as the anchor of the section. Some practical rules:

• Keep the structure Bursa prescribes. Change the styling, not the content.
• Style it to match your annual report. Use the same fonts, line weights and colours as your financial tables.
• Put units in the header row, not in every cell.
• Right-align numbers so the digits line up.
• Mark any figure that was restated from a past year, with a short note at the foot of the table.

The table must also work in the PDF. Analysts copy numbers into their own models. If your table is a picture, they cannot copy it, and they may give up.

Showing three years of ESG data clearly

The three-year rule helps your design, because every metric now shows whether it rose, fell or held steady.

Use the same order of years everywhere, oldest on the left and newest on the right. Readers get used to it after one chart. Mixing the order across pages causes misreading.

Pick the chart that suits the question:

Avoid pie charts for more than four parts. Avoid 3D charts at all times, because they distort the size of each bar. Start bar charts at zero, so a small change does not look like a big one.

Keep each chart to one message. Write that message as the chart title. "Scope 2 emissions fell for the second year" tells the reader more than "Scope 2 emissions (tCO2e)".

Organise by the four climate areas

The climate disclosures under the National Sustainability Reporting Framework rest on four areas from the TCFD: governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets. The Securities Commission’s NSRF announcement of 24 September 2024 names all four, and the government’s copy on InvestMalaysia carries the same text. Use them as your main headings. An investor who has read one Malaysian report will then know where to look in yours.

Give each area a short opening line that states the answer. For governance, say which board committee oversees climate risk and how often it meets. Supporting detail follows below it.

Keep the same headings and order every year. When investors compare your reports year on year, a stable structure saves them time.

Make the words easy to read

Layout cannot fix text that is hard to read. A few writing habits help:

• Use short paragraphs, three or four sentences at most.
• Write headings that say something, not just "Environment".
• Explain technical terms the first time. Scope 1 means direct emissions from sources you own or control, such as company vehicles and generators.
• Add a small glossary at the end of the section for terms like Scope 2, Scope 3 and tCO2e.
• Point to the financial statements where a climate risk has a cost, so the reader can follow the link.

Design choices that work against you

Some popular styles make an ESG report harder to use:

• Green on green. Pale green text on a green background is hard to read. It also prints badly.
• Red and green as the only signal for good and bad. Some readers cannot tell them apart, so add an arrow or a label.
• Stock photos of leaves and wind turbines. They take space and say nothing about your business. Use photos of your real sites and people.
• Big icons with no numbers. An icon of a water drop is not data. Put the figure next to it.
• Text inside images. Readers cannot search it or copy it, and screen readers need alt text to read it at all.

Check the PDF before it goes out

Many investors will only ever see the PDF, not the printed book. Before release, check that:

• The contents page links to each section.
• The file has bookmarks for the four areas and the data summary.
• Every number can be selected and copied.
• The file is small enough to download quickly on a phone.

Still planning? Our guide to getting a sustainability report ready for 2026 sets out the timeline from data to sign-off.

A first ESG section often has the right data in the wrong order: values first, figures buried, three years shown in three different chart styles. Fixing that is layout work, not new reporting. QC Fixer’s annual report design team takes on that work, from the summary table styling to a PDF that analysts can copy numbers out of.

Frequently asked questions

Can we change the layout of Bursa’s prescribed summary table?

Keep the prescribed format and its contents. Fonts and colours that match your annual report do not change the data. Check the current Listing Requirements before changing anything else.

How many years of data should an ESG report show?

Bursa’s December 2024 rules require metrics and targets for the last 3 financial years on a rolling basis. Show all three side by side for every metric.

Should the ESG report be a separate document from the annual report?

For listed companies, the sustainability statement sits in the annual report. Some companies also publish a standalone version. If you do, the figures in both must match.

What is the most common design mistake in an ESG report?

Putting key numbers only inside images or infographics. Readers and analysts cannot search or copy them, and screen readers skip them.

Should ESG charts match the rest of the annual report?

Yes. Use the same fonts, colours and chart types as the other sections. Readers can then compare figures across the report without learning a new layout.