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UK government’s plans to regulate ESG ratings agencies will ‘help investors better identify’ strong performers
New bill announced by Rachel Reeves is expected to come into power in 2025
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‘This is not about politics’: GIX co-founder on launching the US’ first green exchange
Daniel Labovitz talks about the genesis of the exchange and answers ESG-skeptic questions
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‘Investors can still be taken by surprise’: Morningstar’s Lindsey Stewart talks ESG
Stewardship researcher on the questions that have come out of the ‘big think’ on ESG and bridging the gap between values and investment
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‘Blah blah blah, alphabet soup’: Alison Taylor, author and NYU professor on the problems with ESG
NYU Stern Business School professor, summer must-have author and LinkedIn influencer on the problems with ESG and the big questions that still need to be answered
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Strategies for communicating weak corporate governance
Being transparent boosts investor understanding, confidence and support for management
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Sustainability and exchange listing standards: So happy together
Bolstering your green credentials may be easier than you think
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Going backward or going mainstream? How investors’ ESG expectations are changing
Investors’ expectations around ESG factors have always been multifaceted. And with regulations and guidelines for ESG disclosure becoming only more stringent, there is evidence attitudes are changing around ESG that will affect how shareholders make their voting and investment decisions in the future. Ahead of the upcoming ESG Integration Forum – Summer, taking place in New York on June 27, IR Magazine spoke to Marina Severinovsky, head of sustainability for the Americas at asset management firm Schroders, who will be discussing the very topic of how ESG expectations are changing. Marina Severinovsky, head of sustainability for the Americas at asset…
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Back to the basics of capitalism: Texas talks ESG-skeptic voting as politics weighs on IROs
Almost a third of North American IROs cite political action as main driver of anti-ESG sentiment, finds IR Intel research
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ESG reporting and engagement: Seven tips for IR teams navigating new rules and evolving investor preferences
Key tips and takeaways from a panel discussion on ESG reporting and engagement, advising how IR professionals can navigate new rules and evolving investor preferences
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Sun Life aims to save 400 hours of staff time with ESG prioritization tool
Canadian financial services company uses tool to decide which ESG ratings and rankings to focus on
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Climate Action 100+ exits are about climate evolution, not a loss of momentum, says ESG expert
New report examines voting patterns of big money managers that have exited or scaled back involvement in prominent climate-activist coalition
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IR teams bring structure and efficiency to ESG engagement
But there are some easy wins being left on the table, say consultants
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AGM season 2024: IROs need to recognize that deforestation is hitting their bottom line
Amid the debate on what companies should or shouldn’t be doing on ESG, some things remain crystal clear: understanding and addressing business externalities is essential, and issues that affect the bottom line cannot be ignored. Deforestation is one of these. Investors and IR professionals are concerned about climate change, and increasingly about nature loss. More than 1,000 companies and 700 financial institutions have set net-zero targets, and many have signed up to become ‘nature positive’ and tackle their biodiversity impacts and dependencies. Deforestation is the biggest issue sitting at the heart of all this. Net-zero targets and nature-positive ambitions cannot…
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Targeting, corporate access or sell-side research: What did we talk about before ESG?
In 2021, three quarters of IR Magazine cover stories focused on ESG. We looked at how companies were increasingly tying executive compensation to ESG, explored the ways in which ESG was being integrated into sell-side research and examined how ESG was shaping corporate reporting. Of course, IR Magazine has long covered ESG issues – just as the themes that fall under this umbrella have long been covered by IR professionals. In 2011, Neil Stewart talked about ‘the great sustainability race’. A decade ago, Tim Human wrote that investors were ‘turning up the heat’ on climate change. ESG became a topic…
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Which social numbers really matter to investors?
Blue-chip companies spend big bucks on social programs. Apple, for example, recently increased its budget for its diversity program alone from $100 mn to $200 mn, while Mercedes Group spent €97 mn ($104 mn) on training in 2023, up from €93 mn the year before. The areas normally included under the S pillar of ESG are quite broad and people-oriented, but can be divided into company internal and external projects. Internal Cyber-security Diversity Ethics Health & safety Human rights Innovation Recruiting Supply chains Training: sales, technical External Communities Customers Marketing, communications Products R&D But while all of these areas have some…
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Which environmental numbers really matter to investors?
Recently, the head of ESG at a blue-chip asset manager that is paying more than $200,000 annually for ESG data told me: ‘Once we get this ton of data from a major data provider, our work just begins. We have to make some financial sense of it.’ His remark points to a fundamental problem with ESG data and the $50 tn ESG investment market: there are too many indicators and too much non-actionable data. For an investor, knowing how many tons of greenhouse gases a company emits annually says little, if anything, about its performance, for example. In a recent…
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Evolving beyond disclosure: 2024’s ESG trends, opportunities and challenges
Investors are setting their sights on more than just metrics
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Research shows misgivings about ESG investing reducing returns are wrong – so what can IR do to bridge the gap?
In the dynamic landscape of financial decision-making, the importance of non-financial objectives – encapsulated in ESG criteria – has become central for governments, corporations and investors. Even as recent forecasts project a significant increase in ESG-related assets under management, concerns about the potential impact on returns persist. That has significant implications for IR professionals, who must guide their investors and reshape dialogues with various stakeholders. A paradigm shift in capital allocation The monumental growth in ESG-related assets underscores the paradigm shift in financial priorities. PwC forecasts that ESG-related assets under management will increase from $18.4 tn in 2021 to $33.9…
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Shell ranks second for ESG efforts despite backtracking on oil-reduction promises
New report analyzes UK, US and European investor relations and corporate websites
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Sustainability reporting: Get the basics in place – Set priorities and develop a strategy
Five steps to strong sustainability reporting for the biggest business impact – Step 1
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ESG updates for 2023, the role of IR during IPOs and retail investor engagement tips: Ticker 135
In the latest episode of The Ticker podcast, the IR Magazine team gathers to discuss what to expect at the IR Magazine ESG Integration Forum – Europe, which takes place in London on March 2. In a roundtable discussion, IR Magazine reporter Noemi Distefano, senior reporter Tim Human and senior conference producer Laurence Taylor look at the overarching themes for IR Magazine’s first event of the year and the latest ESG regulatory changes that will be top of mind for investors in 2023. They discuss what has changed since the latest COP15 summit in Montreal in December 2022, consider how the importance of biodiversity has changed…
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What is a compensation committee: Roles, responsibilities and best practices
Compensation committees provide specific duties and committee members bring specific skills to the table. We examine their roles and responsibilities.
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The coming wave of climate reporting: Ticker 111
This episode of The Ticker podcast comes to you from the Citadel Securities trading post on the floor of the NYSE. IR Magazine’s Jeff Cossette talks with Richard Mahony, senior director at Gargiulo + Partners, about the state of climate disclosure among US companies and the growing influence of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Listen to the podcast recording below > In this podcast, you’ll hear about: * If the TCFD is on the verge of widespread adoption * What makes the TCFD different from other reporting initiatives * What could happen to companies that don’t disclosure more…
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The confluence of passive investing, ESG and activism: Ticker 109
This episode of The Ticker podcast comes to you from the Citadel Securities trading post on the floor of the NYSE. IR departments need to go into listening mode when they engage with investors over ESG issues, says Alexandra Higgins, managing director at Okapi Partners, the proxy solicitation and investor response firm. Listen to the podcast recording below > In this podcast, you’ll hear about: * Investors are starting to use their votes to get attention focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues * How companies should engage with investors over these topics, and what role IR should play in the process * The different…
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Hervé Duteil’s search for meaning: Ticker 103
This episode of The Ticker podcast comes to you from the Citadel Securities trading post on the floor of the NYSE. Six years ago, after almost two decades as a successful derivatives trader, Hervé Duteil asked for a demotion. Now, as chief sustainability officer at BNP Paribas Americas, New York-based Duteil has become one of finance’s most influential disruptors. How did he do it? ‘By reconnecting people with their dreams,’ says Duteil.
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How to not be an activist’s target this proxy season: Ticker 102
This episode of The Ticker podcast comes to you from the Citadel Securities trading post on the floor of the NYSE. Shareholder activism has exploded since the start of the financial crisis a decade ago. New players, technologies, strategies and issues present IROs with a complex playing field and the likelihood of a dynamic 2019 proxy season. While any underperformer is vulnerable, a recent report suggests consumer discretionary, financials and telecommunications companies will find themselves especially in the crosshairs. On this Ticker podcast, host Jeff Cossette speaks with top proxy solicitor Bruce Goldfarb, founder and CEO of Okapi Partners. Goldfarb…
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How to speak long term: From the Citadel Securities post at the NYSE – Ticker 97
This episode of The Ticker podcast comes to you from the Citadel Securities trading post on the floor of the NYSE. More and more of the world’s largest fund managers expect that the delivery of long-term plans will become a mainstream feature of the schedule of corporate communications with shareholders. This week’s Ticker podcast guests talk about the emerging ‘new normal’ and the role of IR in refocusing capital markets communications. Mark Tulay, director of the Strategic Investor Initiative, discusses fresh ways for CEOs to share their long-term business plans for sustainable value creation with institutional investors. Plus, Ipreo’s Brian…
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Best and worst companies for corporate governance revealed
IoD releases study of good governance
