ESG

*Originally distributed on December 16, 2022. As anticipated in our February 2021 memo, the terms “natural capital,” “biodiversity,” “nature loss,” “ecosystem restoration” and the like have increasingly entered the investor and corporate lexicon.  This has accelerated since the publication of The Economics of Biodiversity:  The Dasgupta Review, the groundbreaking independent study commissioned by the U.K. … Continued

Introduction The Biden administration has just completed its first full year in office, and the talk has been tough.  New leadership at DOJ, the SEC, the FTC, the CFTC, and other regulatory and law enforcement agencies have issued statements and policy revisions signaling their intention to train more focus on white-collar and regulatory enforcement.  We … Continued

*Originally distributed on May 27, 2021.  Developments this week highlight the urgent imperative for boards and management teams to address climate-related challenges as part of their regular risk assessment practices: A Dutch court held Royal Dutch Shell partially responsible for global warming and ordered the company to reduce its carbon emissions. Engine No. 1, an … Continued

*Originally distributed on April 13, 2020 The social and economic turmoil unleashed by the global spread of COVID-19 and the collapse in the price of crude oil has brought to the fore a number of critical incident and systemic risk management concerns, including traditional ESG concerns such as human capital issues, business model and supply … Continued

The Coming Impact of ESG Recent months have seen institutional investors and other stakeholders, notably BlackRock and State Street, stressing the importance of comparable and decision-useful ESG disclosures by their portfolio companies.  Such calls follow in the wake of growing interest among investors and other stakeholders in understanding and assessing the performance of companies based … Continued