ESGNode Documentation

Overview

ESGNode is a web-based platform that helps organizations prepare, analyze, and improve their ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) sustainability reports. Upload your PDF, select a standard, and get requirement-by-requirement compliance scores with exact quotes from your document as evidence.

📤

Upload

Upload your sustainability PDF report (any language, any format)

🔍

Analyze

AI maps your content against every requirement of the chosen standard

📊

Improve

See gaps, read AI-drafted improvements, export full compliance reports

Quick Start

Get your first analysis done in under 5 minutes:

1

Create an account at esgnode.com/register. All new accounts start with a 14-day Professional trial — no credit card needed.

2

Go to Dashboard and click "Upload & Analyze".

3

Upload your PDF (your sustainability report or draft — any size).

4

Select a standard (e.g. GRI Universal, IFRS S1, TCFD) and optionally choose a custom rubric.

5

Click "Run Analysis". Results appear in 1–3 minutes depending on report length.

6

Review results — green = found, red = missing, with exact quotes and AI-drafted improvements for each gap.

Tip: You can run multiple standards on the same PDF. Each standard is a separate analysis and uses one analysis credit.

Account & Login

Registering

Go to esgnode.com/register. Fill in your name, company, email, and password. You will receive a welcome email. All new accounts start on a 14-day trial of the Professional plan.

Logging In

Visit esgnode.com/login. Enter your email and password. A CAPTCHA puzzle (ALTCHA) appears — complete it to proceed. This protects the platform from bots and brute-force attempts.

Forgot Password

Click "Forgot password?" on the login page. Enter your registered email. If an account exists, you will receive a reset link within a few minutes. Check your spam folder if it does not arrive.

Note: The reset link is valid for 1 hour. After that, request a new one.

Changing Your Password

Go to Profile in the sidebar → scroll to "Change Password" → enter your current password and your new password twice → save.

Deleting Your Account

Go to Profile → "Delete Account". This permanently removes all your reports, analyses, and data. This action is irreversible.

Uploading a PDF

Supported file types

Only PDF files are accepted. Other formats (Word, Excel, HTML) must be converted to PDF first before uploading.

File size and page limits

Plan	Max file size	Max pages per PDF
Starter	50 MB	15 pages
Professional	50 MB	100 pages
Enterprise	50 MB	600 pages

Tip: Scanned PDFs (image-only, no text layer) produce poor results. Use PDFs that have selectable text. If your PDF is scanned, run it through an OCR tool first (e.g. Adobe Acrobat's "Recognize Text").

Upload limits (monthly)

Each plan has a monthly upload quota. Uploads reset on the 1st of each calendar month.

Plan	Uploads / month
Starter	3
Professional	15
Enterprise	50

Running an Analysis

From the Dashboard, click "Upload & Analyze". Select or upload your PDF, choose one or more standards, optionally attach a custom rubric, then click "Analyze".

How long does it take?

Most analyses complete in 1–5 minutes. Longer reports (100+ pages) against large standards (e.g. GRI 200–400) can take up to 10 minutes. You do not need to keep the browser tab open — results are saved and available in My Reports whenever you return.

Analysis credits

Each standard selected = one analysis credit consumed. Running GRI + IFRS S1 simultaneously on one PDF = 2 credits.

Plan	Analyses / month
Starter	6
Professional	30
Enterprise	100
Pay Per Report	Per order (no subscription needed)

AI Draft Improvements

Professional and Enterprise plans include AI-generated draft text for each missing or partial requirement. These drafts are starting points — review and adapt them to reflect your organization's actual data and context before use.

Starter plan users can view scores and evidence quotes, but AI drafts are hidden. Upgrade to Professional to unlock them.

Understanding Results

Score indicators

Status	Meaning
🟢 Found	The requirement was addressed in your report with sufficient evidence
🟡 Partial	Some aspects found but the coverage is incomplete
🔴 Missing	No evidence of this requirement found in your document

Evidence quotes

For each "Found" or "Partial" result, ESGNode shows the exact sentence(s) from your PDF that matched the requirement. Click "View in PDF" to jump to the page where the evidence appears.

Confidence scores

Each result has a confidence score (0–100%). This reflects how certain the AI is that the evidence truly satisfies the requirement. A high score (80%+) indicates strong alignment. A low score (below 50%) means the match is ambiguous.

Overall compliance score

The summary shows your overall compliance score — the percentage of requirements marked "Found" or "Partial" weighted by requirement type. Use this to track improvement across revisions.

Exporting results

Click "Export Report" on the results page to download a full compliance report as a PDF. This PDF includes: all requirements, your status for each, the evidence quotes, and the AI-suggested improvements.

Export is available on Professional and Enterprise plans, and for Pay Per Report orders (export is unlocked after payment).

Dashboard

The Dashboard is your home base. It shows:

Usage stats — analyses and uploads used this month vs your plan limit
Recent analyses — quickly jump back to any recent result
Gap summary — a rolled-up view of the most common gaps across all your reports
Quick upload — start a new analysis without navigating away

The plan banner at the top shows your current plan, trial status, and remaining days if you are on trial.

My Reports

My Reports shows all the PDFs you have uploaded and the analyses run on each. From here you can:

Filter by standard, date, or status
Re-open any analysis result
Export a compliance report PDF
Delete a report (removes the uploaded file and all analyses)
Share results with a public link (toggle on the result page)

Compare Reports

Compare two analyses side by side — useful for tracking improvement between your draft and final report, or comparing performance across two standards.

1

Navigate to Compare Reports in the sidebar.

2

Select your first report and standard from the dropdowns.

3

Select your second report and standard.

4

Click "Compare" — a side-by-side table appears showing each requirement's status in both analyses.

Compare works across different PDFs and different standards, giving you maximum flexibility.

Create a Report Enterprise

Instead of analyzing an existing PDF, Create a Report generates a complete draft sustainability report from scratch. Choose a standard, and ESGNode's AI writes a structured draft covering every requirement.

This feature is available on the Enterprise plan, or as a one-off purchase via Pay Per Report (create order).

How it works

1

Go to Create a Report in the sidebar.

2

Enter your company name and select one or more standards.

3

Optionally add context about your company (industry, size, operations) to help the AI tailor the content.

4

Click "Generate Report". Generation takes 3–8 minutes depending on the number of requirements.

5

Edit each section in the built-in editor, then export to PDF.

Important notes on AI-generated content

AI-generated reports are starting drafts only. They use generic language and will not contain your actual data, metrics, or real incidents. You must review, customize, and verify every section before using the report externally or submitting it to any regulator or auditor.

Materiality Assessment Professional

The Materiality Assessment wizard (also called DMA — Double Materiality Assessment) guides you through the EFRAG IG 1 double materiality process as required by ESRS / EU CSRD.

What is double materiality?

Double materiality looks at sustainability topics from two angles:

Impact materiality — does your business impact people or the environment (positively or negatively)?
Financial materiality — do sustainability factors create financial risks or opportunities for your business?

A topic is material if it is significant on either dimension.

Wizard steps

Step	What to do
1. Setup	Name your assessment, choose a framework (ESRS, GRI, or IFRS), set thresholds and stakeholder context
2. Screening	Mark which sustainability topics are in scope for your business. Exclude irrelevant ones with a reason.
3. Impact scoring	For each in-scope topic, rate Scale, Scope, Irremediability (negative), and Scale + Scope (positive), plus Likelihood for potential impacts
4. Financial scoring	Rate the Likelihood and Magnitude of financial risks and opportunities per topic
5. Results	See the materiality matrix, material topics list, and the ESRS 2 disclosure summary (IRO-1, SBM-3, IRO-2)

Saving and resuming

The assessment auto-saves after each step. To resume a previous assessment, go to the Materiality Assessment page and click the "Materiality Record" tab, then click "Resume" on any in-progress assessment.

EFRAG IG 1 aligned: The scoring methodology follows the EFRAG IG 1 (May 2024) guidance — including the §118 single-factor severity rule, likelihood gating for potential impacts, and human rights severity-precedes-likelihood rule.

Custom Rubrics

Custom rubrics let you add your own evaluation criteria on top of a standard. For example, you could add internal company KPIs or investor-specific requirements that are not in any public standard.

Creating a rubric

1

Go to Custom Rubrics in the sidebar.

2

Click "New Rubric" → give it a name.

3

Add criteria: each criterion has a title and description of what to look for.

4

When running an analysis, select your rubric in the "Custom Rubric" dropdown — the AI will evaluate your PDF against both the standard AND your rubric.

Pay Per Report

No subscription required. Pay per analysis (to analyze an existing PDF) or per created report (to generate a draft report from scratch). Pricing is based on the number of requirements in the selected standard(s) and the length of your PDF.

How it works

1

Go to Pay Per Report in the sidebar.

2

Select your standards — the estimated price appears instantly.

3

Upload your PDF (or enter your company name for a create order).

4

Click "Pay & Analyze" — you are redirected to a secure Paddle checkout.

5

After payment, analysis starts automatically. Results are in My Reports when done.

Pricing model

Analyze orders: the price is estimated upfront based on your PDF's page count and the standard's requirement count. The final charge is adjusted to actual complexity — you are never charged more than the authorized amount.

Apply a discount code in the order form to reduce your price. Codes are available via promotions on the homepage or from the ESGNode team.

AI Chat Assistant

A chat drawer is available on analysis results pages. Ask questions about your report, request explanations of specific requirements, or ask for deeper improvement suggestions.

The AI Chat is context-aware — it knows which report and standard you are viewing and can answer questions specifically about your results.

Supported Standards

Standard	Full name	Requirements
GRI Universal	GRI Standards (Universal, Sector, Topic)	62+
IFRS S1	IFRS S1 — General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information	67
IFRS S2	IFRS S2 — Climate-related Disclosures	52
TCFD	Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures	30
TNFD	Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures	42
IPIECA	IPIECA Oil & Gas Industry Guidance on Voluntary Sustainability Reporting	120
WBA	World Benchmarking Alliance Social Transformation Benchmark	143
UK SRS S1	UK Sustainability Reporting Standards S1	35
UK SRS S2	UK Sustainability Reporting Standards S2	33
<IR>	International Integrated Reporting Framework	39

New standards are added periodically. Contact us if you need a standard not listed here.

Requirements & Scoring

Each standard is broken into individual requirements. For every requirement, the AI:

Searches your PDF for relevant passages using semantic search
Judges whether the passage satisfies the requirement's intent (not just keywords)
Assigns Found / Partial / Missing status with a confidence score
Extracts the most relevant quote as evidence
Generates an improvement suggestion for Partial and Missing items

How to improve your score: For each "Missing" requirement, read the AI-suggested improvement. Use it as a guide to add the appropriate disclosure to your next report draft. Re-upload the revised draft and run a new analysis to measure improvement.

Plans & Limits

Feature	Starter	Professional	Enterprise
Monthly analyses	6	30	100
Monthly uploads	3	15	50
Pages per report	15	100	600
AI draft improvements	—	✓	✓
Export to PDF	—	✓	✓
Materiality Assessment	—	✓	✓
Create a Report (AI)	—	—	✓
Team collaboration	—	—	✓
Max file size	50 MB	50 MB	50 MB

Upgrading your plan

Go to Settings → Plan in the sidebar. Click the plan you want and complete the Paddle checkout. Your new plan is active immediately after payment confirmation.

Downgrading or cancelling

Go to Settings → Plan → Manage Subscription to cancel or change your plan. After cancellation, you keep access until the end of the current billing period, then revert to Starter.

Discount Codes

Discount codes reduce the price of Pay Per Report orders and subscriptions.

On Pay Per Report: enter the code in the "Discount code" field before clicking Pay
On subscription upgrade: enter the code in the "Discount code" field on the Settings → Plan page

Valid codes are sometimes displayed on the ESGNode homepage as a promo banner. They may also be shared via email newsletter.

Codes have expiry dates and usage limits. A code that worked yesterday may no longer be valid today.

Troubleshooting — Analysis Issues

Analysis is stuck on "Processing"

Analyses can take up to 10 minutes for large reports. If it has been more than 15 minutes:

Refresh the page — the analysis may have completed
Go to My Reports and check the status there
If the status shows "Failed", the analysis encountered an error — you can retry it without using another credit
Contact support if the issue persists (see below)

Analysis completed but results look wrong

Common cause: scanned PDF. If your PDF is image-based (no text layer), the AI cannot read the content and will mark most requirements as "Missing". Convert your PDF to a text-based PDF using OCR software before uploading.

Other causes:

Report is in a language the standard wasn't designed for — results may be less accurate
Report uses abbreviations or codes without explanation — try uploading a version with full terminology
Very short reports (under 5 pages) often score poorly because there simply isn't enough content

Low confidence scores across the board

This usually means the PDF text quality is poor, or the report uses vague, generic language that doesn't clearly address specific requirements. Review the requirements marked "Missing" and add more specific, evidence-based disclosures.

"Analysis limit reached" error

You have used all your analysis credits for this month. Options:

Wait for the next monthly reset (1st of the month)
Upgrade your plan in Settings → Plan
Use Pay Per Report for a one-off analysis without a subscription

Troubleshooting — Upload Issues

"File too large" error

Your PDF exceeds the size limit for your plan (see Upload limits). Try:

Compressing the PDF (use Adobe Acrobat's "Reduce File Size", SmallPDF, or iLovePDF)
Removing embedded high-resolution images if they are not critical
Upgrading your plan for a higher size limit

"Invalid file type" error

Only PDF files are accepted. Convert your document to PDF first (File → Save as PDF in Word/Google Docs).

Upload stalls at 0% or fails mid-upload

Check your internet connection — large PDFs require a stable connection
Try a different browser (Chrome or Firefox recommended)
Disable browser extensions that might block file uploads
Try the upload on a different network (e.g. switch from Wi-Fi to mobile hotspot)

"Upload limit reached" error

You have used all your upload slots for this month. Same options as analysis limit (wait, upgrade, or Pay Per Report).

Troubleshooting — Payment Issues

Checkout page won't open / blank page

Paddle (our payment processor) handles the checkout. If the checkout page does not open:

Disable any pop-up blockers for esgnode.com
Try a different browser
Ensure you are not blocking third-party cookies (Paddle requires them)
Check if your browser console shows any errors (F12 → Console)

Payment declined

This is handled by your card issuer, not by ESGNode. Common reasons: daily transaction limit, international card restrictions, insufficient funds. Contact your bank. Paddle supports most major credit and debit cards worldwide.

Paid but plan not upgraded

There is sometimes a 30–60 second delay between payment completion and plan activation. Refresh the page and check your plan in Settings → Plan. If still on the old plan after 5 minutes, contact support with your payment confirmation email.

Charged but analysis did not start (Pay Per Report)

Go to My Reports → Pay Per Report orders — the order status shows there. If it shows "failed", you will receive a refund automatically within 5–10 business days. Contact support if you do not receive the refund.

Requesting a refund

Contact hello@esgnode.com with your order ID and reason. We offer refunds for failed analyses and technical errors. Subscription refunds are assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Troubleshooting — Login & Account

CAPTCHA not loading

The ALTCHA widget requires JavaScript and access to our CAPTCHA server. If it does not appear:

Disable ad blockers for esgnode.com
Ensure JavaScript is enabled in your browser
Try a hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R)
Try a different browser

"Invalid credentials" even with correct password

Use the Forgot Password flow to reset your password. If that does not help, contact support — your account may have been created with a different email address.

Not receiving emails (welcome, reset, etc.)

Check your spam / junk folder
Add hello@esgnode.com to your safe senders list
Wait up to 5 minutes for delivery
Contact support if still not received after 10 minutes

Session expires too quickly

Sessions are valid for 7 days. If you are logging in frequently, check that your browser is not clearing cookies or localStorage on exit. If using a browser in private/incognito mode, the session will not persist after the window closes.

Troubleshooting — Export Issues

"Export not available on your plan" error

PDF export requires a Professional or Enterprise plan, or a Pay Per Report order. Starter plan users cannot export. Upgrade in Settings → Plan.

Exported PDF is blank or garbled

Try a different browser. Chrome is the most reliable for PDF generation. If the issue persists, contact support with the analysis ID.

Export button grayed out

The analysis is still processing, or it failed. Wait for the analysis to complete (refresh the page). If the status is "Failed", the export will not be available — contact support.

Contact Support

We aim to respond within one business day.

✉️

Email support

hello@esgnode.com

Include your account email, the analysis or order ID (if relevant), and a description of the issue. Screenshots are very helpful.

Tip: Before emailing, check this page — most common issues have solutions here. If you found a bug not covered here, please include browser, OS, and steps to reproduce.