# Recursive: boutique ESG consultancy in Riyadh

> Plain-text version of https://recursive.sa/ for AI assistants and other readers. It holds the same content as the web page, including the four interactive figures written out in full.
> Company facts in one place: https://recursive.sa/profile.html. Guide to the whole site: https://recursive.sa/llms.txt

Recursive is a boutique ESG (environmental, social and governance) consultancy based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We help organisations across the GCC work out what matters, act on it, measure the result and go again.

Why we exist: we aspire to a world where businesses are the catalyst for measurable, positive environmental and social impact.

Contact: welcome@recursive.sa. One email is enough to start.

## Practice: five practices, twenty-three services

Together they cover the full path, from deciding what matters to proving progress to the people who ask. Full detail, with what each service delivers: https://recursive.sa/services.md

### 1. Strategy and governance

Decide what matters, and who owns it.

- **1.1 Materiality assessments.** Find the ESG issues that matter most to your business and your stakeholders, including double materiality.
- **1.2 ESG strategy and roadmaps.** Turn what matters into a strategy with clear ambitions, pillars and a multi-year roadmap.
- **1.3 ESG governance.** Set up the board committee, roles and policies that own ESG, and link it to pay.
- **1.4 Capacity building.** Training that gives your board and teams the knowledge to carry ESG goals into daily work.

### 2. Climate and carbon

Measure your emissions, cut them, and prepare for climate risk.

- **2.1 Carbon accounting.** Measure Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions to the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064, ready for verification.
- **2.2 Net zero and decarbonisation.** Set science-based targets and build the roadmap and business case to reach them.
- **2.3 Climate risk and scenarios.** Assess physical and transition risks under several climate scenarios, as TCFD and IFRS S2 expect.
- **2.4 Carbon credits.** Decide whether and how to use carbon credits, including the Saudi voluntary carbon market, without weakening your targets.

### 3. Reporting, data and assurance

Show where you stand, in a way that holds up.

- **3.1 Disclosure and reporting.** Choose the right frameworks, from the Saudi Exchange guidelines and GRI to IFRS S1 and S2, and report against them.
- **3.2 Report writing and design.** Sustainability reports written and designed for the people who read them.
- **3.3 Benchmarking and tracking.** Set targets, compare against peers and track progress over time.
- **3.4 ESG data systems.** Choose and set up the platforms, KPIs and data flows that make reporting repeatable.
- **3.5 Assurance readiness.** Get your data, controls and evidence ready for external assurance under ISSA 5000 and ISAE 3000.

### 4. Operations and value chain

Put the strategy to work on the ground.

- **4.1 Sustainable supply chains.** Manage ESG risk from sourcing to disposal by engaging suppliers and measuring how they perform.
- **4.2 Human rights due diligence.** Find and address risks to workers and communities in your operations and supply chain.
- **4.3 Nature, biodiversity and water.** Understand your dependence and impact on nature and water, using the TNFD approach.
- **4.4 Product footprints.** Life-cycle assessments and environmental product declarations for what you make.
- **4.5 Social impact measurement.** Measure what your programmes change for people and communities, not just what they cost.
- **4.6 Sustainability certification.** Support through green and carbon neutral certifications that back up your commitments.
- **4.7 Green buildings.** Mostadam, LEED and GRESB, from design targets to certified and reported assets.

### 5. Sustainable finance and investment

Bring ESG into capital decisions.

- **5.1 ESG due diligence.** Identify ESG risks and opportunities in investments, mergers and acquisitions before you commit.
- **5.2 ESG ratings analysis.** Understand how rating agencies and indices score you, and where to improve.
- **5.3 Green and sustainable finance.** Frameworks for green bonds, sukuk and loans, with allocation and impact reporting, ready for external review.

### Ways to work with us

- **Single company.** One project, or the full seven-step cycle, for one organisation.
- **Portfolio programme.** One approach across many companies: a shared baseline, consistent data and consolidated reporting, aligned with the shareholder's framework.
- **Outsourced ESG team.** Part-time support on a retainer, for companies whose sustainability team is small or still forming.

## The four figures on the home page

The web page has four interactive figures, one each for services 1.1, 3.1, 3.3 and 5.2. They are illustrative. Their content is written out here.

### Fig. 1: Topics by sector (service 1.1, materiality assessments)

Which ESG topics usually matter in each sector, under double materiality: a topic counts if it matters for its effect on people and the environment (impact), for its effect on the company's finances (financial effect), or both. These are indicative positions for a typical company in the sector, drawn from industry-based guidance such as the SASB standards. A company's own stakeholders decide its final list.

- **Energy and utilities:** GHG emissions, energy transition, health and safety, air quality, water use, biodiversity. Usually lower priority: community relations, governance and ethics.
- **Chemicals and materials:** GHG emissions, hazardous materials, health and safety, water use, product safety, energy costs. Usually lower priority: waste, community relations.
- **Real estate and construction:** building energy, climate resilience, worker safety, labour standards, materials and waste, governance and ethics. Usually lower priority: water use, community impact.
- **Banks and financial services:** financed emissions, climate risk in lending, data privacy, financial inclusion, responsible lending, business ethics. Usually lower priority: local talent, own footprint.
- **Retail and consumer goods:** supply chain labour, packaging and waste, product safety, data privacy, water in sourcing, food loss. Usually lower priority: energy use, local talent.
- **Healthcare:** patient safety, access and affordability, data privacy, workforce wellbeing, medical waste, business ethics. Usually lower priority: supply chain, energy use.
- **Transport and logistics:** GHG emissions, road and worker safety, fleet transition, fuel costs, air quality, labour standards. Usually lower priority: noise, governance and ethics.
- **Technology and telecoms:** data privacy, cybersecurity, data centre energy, digital inclusion, e-waste, local talent. Usually lower priority: supply chain minerals, business ethics.

The point of the figure: a view based on money alone leaves out topics that matter to people and the environment, and a view based on impact alone leaves out topics that move the numbers. Double materiality keeps both.

### Fig. 2: Standards finder (service 3.1, disclosure and reporting)

Which standards apply depends on who a company answers to. More than one of these can apply.

**Listed on the Saudi Exchange**
- Saudi Exchange ESG Disclosure Guidelines (voluntary): the local reference point for listed companies since 2021.
- GCC ESG Disclosure Metrics (voluntary): a shared set of 29 metrics across the Gulf exchanges.
- GRI Standards (voluntary): a widely used structure for a full sustainability report.

**A PIF portfolio company**
- The shareholder's ESG framework (expected): expectations can arrive from the investor before the regulator, and they usually point to international standards.
- GRI Standards (voluntary): a widely used structure for the report itself.

**Issuing green or sustainability-linked debt**
- CMA guidelines for green, social, sustainable and sustainability-linked debt (required): in effect since May 2025. They cover the framework, external review and ongoing reporting.

**Selling to large customers or borrowing from banks**
- Customer and lender requests (expected): large customers, banks and investors increasingly ask the companies they work with for ESG data.
- GRI Standards (voluntary): a sound structure if the company chooses to report.

**For everyone: IFRS S1 and S2 (watch).** Not adopted in the Kingdom yet. Regulators have signalled this direction, with no date set.

These statuses are a general guide, not legal advice.

### Fig. 3: Peer benchmark (service 3.3, benchmarking and tracking)

Same company, same numbers. Change who it is compared with. The figure places an illustrative mid-size Saudi industrial company among eight illustrative peers on five measures (carbon intensity, water intensity, workplace safety, local talent, board independence), and ranks it from 1st to 9th on each. All values are illustrative, not real company data.

- **Against Saudi sector peers:** it leads on carbon intensity, workplace safety and board independence (3rd of 9 on each), and is in line on water intensity and local talent. It trails on none.
- **Against GCC sector peers:** it leads only on local talent (3rd of 9), and trails on water intensity (7th of 9).
- **Against global sector leaders:** it leads on nothing, and trails on four of five measures (8th or 9th of 9). Only local talent stays in line.

Choosing the peer group is the first decision in a benchmark, and the one that moves the result most. A real benchmark agrees the peer group with the client, then tracks the same group every year, using the client's sector, peers and own disclosures.

### Fig. 4: Disclosure and your rating (service 5.2, ESG ratings analysis)

Same company, same performance: only what it discloses changes. The figure scores six issues (carbon emissions, water stress, health and safety, labour practices, board and ownership, business ethics). Where an issue is not disclosed, it is scored at a cautious fallback near the bottom of the sector, as many rating methods do.

In the starting example the company discloses only health and safety and board and ownership, and scores 34 out of 100. Disclosing all six would take it to 63, with nothing changed on the ground. The biggest single gain comes from disclosing carbon emissions.

Weights and scores are illustrative. Every rating agency uses its own method.

## Method: one loop, run again

Seven steps make one cycle. The last step feeds the first, so each cycle starts from a better baseline.

1. **Learn.** We start by understanding your business, your industry and your stakeholders. You receive a shared picture of your business, your industry and the people who matter to it. Practices that feed this step: 01 Strategy and governance, 04 Operations and value chain; including materiality assessments, human rights due diligence, and nature, biodiversity and water.
2. **Benchmark.** We measure your performance against standards and peers to set a clear baseline. You receive a baseline, with the gaps and opportunities against standards and peers. Practices that feed this step: 02 Climate and carbon, 03 Reporting, data and assurance, 05 Sustainable finance and investment; including carbon accounting, benchmarking and tracking, and ESG ratings analysis.
3. **Formulate.** We build a strategy with you that brings ESG into operations and decisions. You receive a sustainability strategy built around your goals. Practices that feed this step: 01 Strategy and governance, 02 Climate and carbon; including ESG strategy and roadmaps, and net zero and decarbonisation.
4. **Plan.** We turn the strategy into actions with timelines, milestones and KPIs. You receive an action plan with timelines, milestones and KPIs. Practices that feed this step: 01 Strategy and governance, 05 Sustainable finance and investment; including ESG governance, and green and sustainable finance.
5. **Implement.** We work alongside your team to put the plan into practice. You receive hands-on guidance on practices, technology and stakeholder engagement. Practices that feed this step: 01 Strategy and governance, 03 Reporting, data and assurance, 04 Operations and value chain; including sustainable supply chains, green buildings, ESG data systems and capacity building.
6. **Evaluate.** We monitor and report on results, and recommend what to improve. You receive regular monitoring reports, with recommendations for what to improve. Practices that feed this step: 03 Reporting, data and assurance, 05 Sustainable finance and investment; including report writing and design, assurance readiness, and ESG ratings analysis.
7. **Analyse and explore.** We track new regulations, technologies and market shifts, then return to step 1. You receive a view of what is changing, ready to open the next cycle. Practices that feed this step: 02 Climate and carbon, 05 Sustainable finance and investment; including climate risk and scenarios, carbon credits, and ESG due diligence.

## Contact

Write to welcome@recursive.sa. One email is enough to start.

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/recursivesa/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/recursivesa/
- X: https://twitter.com/recursivesa/