ESG Archive

ESG

ESG stocks prove their value during Covid-19 crisis

Apr 03, 2020
Oliver Schutzmann
ESG stocks prove their value during Covid-19 crisis
The demand of investors for companies to measure, disclose and explain their ESG credentials has come as a surprise to many corporate leaders around the globe. In the Middle East, for example, the regional legacy of strong CSR programs provided, many believed, precisely the kind of soft, non-core activity that would satisfy ESG investor demands.  Instead, many regional firms have been surprised to find themselves behind the curve, toward the back of the queue when ...
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Covid-19, ESG

ESG and engagement continue amid Covid-19, says Nuveen’s Reali

Apr 02, 2020
Ben Maiden
ESG and engagement continue amid Covid-19, says Nuveen’s Reali
The Covid-19 pandemic has yet to have much of an impact on shareholder engagement or Nuveen’s pursuit of ESG issues, according to Peter Reali, senior director of responsible investing at Nuveen. The coronavirus outbreak has caused unprecedented disruption to daily and economic life globally in the build-up to the peak of this year’s proxy season, including forcing millions of people to work from home and practice social distancing. But Reali notes that at...
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ESG

UK’s new Stewardship Code could place more demands on debt IR

Mar 24, 2020
Tim Human
UK’s new Stewardship Code could place more demands on debt IR
The new UK Stewardship Code 2020, which came into force at the start of this year, calls for engagement between companies and investors to take place across asset classes – including fixed income. As a result, debt IR, which today is mainly a concern for the financial sector, could grow in importance for all companies. ‘Most issuers don’t have any debt investor relation...
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ESG

How stakeholder value affects the work of IR teams

Mar 23, 2020
Ben Ashwell
How stakeholder value affects the work of IR teams
‘There’s a mismatch between the story we tell about business and what we know it takes to run a kick-ass business. There’s even a mismatch between the story we sometimes teach in business schools and what we know it takes to run a kick-ass business. And sometimes there’s a mismatch between the stories executives and managers tell about their businesses and what they really know in their hearts it takes to a run a successful business,’ said R Edward Freeman at a T...
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ESG

ESG plays universally greater role for investors, survey finds

Mar 13, 2020
Ben Maiden
ESG plays universally greater role for investors, survey finds
Global institutional investors are unanimous in seeing the growing influence of ESG issues in their business, according to a new survey that also underlines the preference for engagement over proxy activity in tackling these issues. All (100 percent) of the respondents to the Morrow Sodali study say ESG risks and opportunities have played a greater role in their investment decisions during the last 12 months. The result ‘undeniably reinforces that ESG integration ...
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ESG

IR teams increase focus on ESG ratings, but find fault with analysis

Mar 11, 2020
Tim Human
IR teams increase focus on ESG ratings, but find fault with analysis
IR teams have upped their focus on the output of ESG research providers amid broad dissatisfaction with the analysis being conducted, according to new research. In a global survey of IR professionals by BNY Mellon, 62 percent of respondents say they monitor their ESG ratings, a rise from 45 percent in 2017 and 41 percent in 2015.  Larger companies are more likely to monitor the output of ESG ratings providers, notes the survey. More than 80 percent of mega-c...
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ESG

Norges calls for boards to up game on sustainability

Mar 05, 2020
Tim Human
Norges calls for boards to up game on sustainability
The world’s biggest equity investor has urged corporate boards to up their focus on sustainability. Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages Norway’s $1.1 tn sovereign wealth fund (SWF), made the call in a new position paper released this week. In the document, it says boards ‘should ensure that company reporting reflects all material sustainability risks and opportunities’. It adds that sustainability disclosure should be ‘quantitati...
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ESG

Talent is key to corporate success, investors say

Feb 21, 2020
Ben Maiden
Talent is key to corporate success, investors say
Institutional investors see talent management and climate change as the stand-out issues factoring into companies’ strategic success, according to new research. Asked which factors are critical to their portfolio issuers’ fate over the next three to five years, almost two thirds (64 percent) point to talent management – in reference to the workforce as a whole – and 56 percent cite environmental issues/climate change. Corporate culture and board composition ...
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