ESG Measurement & Governance

He said he's no longer using the environment, social and governance term because it is being politically "weaponized."

For years, South Pole – the world’s most influential climate consultancy – sold essentially concocted emission rights to hundreds of companies, including Gucci, Volkswagen and energy supplier Greenchoice. As a result, part of the climate achievements of many prestigious companies exist only on paper. Said carbon credits generated tens of millions of euros for South Pole. The company is in crisis: employees want the error to be acknowledged, while management is sweeping it under the rug.

It should be a virtue, not an obligation.

I have a somewhat out-of-the-ordinary job description for a CMO. As well as leading the marketing function, I also have internal and external communications and sustainable business - environmental and social sustainability - as part of my remit.

While the number of businesses setting net-zero commitments has grown rapidly in recent months, just 10% of firms have set interim science-based emissions targets to ensure they're aligning with climate science.

A DeSmog investigation shows bank directors around the world have almost 1,000 connections to high-carbon companies and organisations lobbying against climate action.

The EU has the most advanced and developed suite of ESG regulatory measures, we provide an easily accessible entry into that nascent regime.

Tariq Fancy, former BlackRock CIO of sustainable investing, wrote an op-ed stating that "the financial services industry is duping the American public with pro-environment, sustainable investing practices." He says there is no evidence ESG investing has any social impact. He joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss.

Wall Street is greenwashing the financial world, making sustainable investing merely PR, which is a distraction from the problem of climate change.

Electric-car maker Tesla is ranked at the top of its industry by one firm that grades environmental, social and governance practices. But another grader puts Tesla at the bottom.

What board directors will quickly find is that the methodology driving the company’s ESG score is currently opaque and varies by data provider. Recent research conducted by State Street, for example, found that there was only a 0.53 correlation between the MSCI and Sustainalytics ESG scores. As an industry, we need to do a better job at creating more consistent and higher-quality scoring. The good news is that the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) has developed a sophisticated environmental and social reporting framework for companies, which identifies sustainability factors by GICS and sub-GICS sectors that are material for investors.

Scarlet Letters: Remarks before the American Enterprise Institute by Commissioner Hester M. Peirce

Broader sense of purpose is welcome but needs to be measured

A tick box style of reporting has its value, acting as a minimum standard if you are a responsible investor. It enables firms to understand how to encourage sustainable investment practices and the right processes and behaviours to avoid negative externalities. However, where it falls short is that it purely looks at inputs, rather than the actual results of those policies and practices. So, a firm might have a sustainability policy, but how has that translated into reducing carbon emissions or resource efficiency in portfolio companies?

World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab said now is the time for companies to "walk the talk" when it comes to stakeholder capitalism.

The presentation slides in this document provide an overview of our study, The I

ESG Rating is designed to measure a company’s resilience to long-term, industry material environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks.

A commitment to strong corporate citizenship can build tremendous value—but the decisions are not always black and white