How corporate governance factors rive ESC innovation

Legislators and market participants should de-emphasize the social (S) and corporate governance (G) factors in favor of the environmental (E) factor, according to a widely held belief. The same proponents of this point of view also assert that emissions are the only relevant metric to pursue; therefore, the letter E should represent emissions and not environment. The extent of climate-related risk differs from that of other ESG-measured risk factors, such as violations of human rights in supply chains, which fall under the S category. As greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are the most crucial metric to reduce and thus to mitigate climate change, these emissions should be measured independently.

However, focusing solely on emissions would not give sufficient weight to their contributing factors, such as energy efficiency metrics, the establishment of a diverse board to make better decisions, or the enormous risk that climate change poses. While much focus is placed on the environmental aspect of ESG integration, corporate governance and its capacity to promote innovation and establish standards should not be overlooked. Good corporate governance plays an important role in implementing successful strategies to reduce emissions and facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy as Ingo Steinhauser states in a Thompson Reuters article recently published.

 

These are the upcoming dates for our Annual General Meetings:

Thursday, 21 March 2024
Thursday, 20 March 2025