Breakout Session: ESG and Sustainability

An increasing number of institutional investors, employees, and consumers are expressing interest in ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors. President Biden has made tackling climate change an administration priority, and the pandemic and widespread racial justice movements have helped push social issues such human rights, labor and equality, and health and safety into the spotlight. However, ESG impacts, risks, and opportunities can be difficult and costly to track, measure, and compare across industries. Companies hoping to report on ESG impacts are faced with an alphabet soup of reporting frameworks, which is made more complex by the inconsistencies of organizations that propose to rank publicly traded firms according to various ESG scores. What concrete steps are companies actually taking to advance their ESG agendas, and what obstacles do they face? How are companies evaluating the practical and policy limitations of corporate reform as a means to improve social and environmental outcomes? How can companies achieve high-quality reporting on ESG impacts? This panel will address the broad range of governance challenges posed by the increasing emphasis on ESG issues and various strategies that boards can use to respond constructively to these emerging trends.