For starters, link a company’s ESG business strategy to its ESG disclosures

Starters YouTube Thumbnail -1

– Rather than look externally to ESG standards to govern their disclosure, companies should base their disclosure on their corporate values, their understanding of material risks, the story they wish to tell and the factors that drive their ESG narrative.
– Based on this assessment, companies can better determine what information they should disclose and what frameworks work best to suit those needs.

Dave Curran and his team at Paul Weiss have done a nice job of pumping out valuable information about ESG – and this summary about a recent webcast about the connection between sustainability and legal & risk is no exception. Here is an excerpt from that recap (I took a paragraph and took the liberty of breaking it down into bullets):

– Understanding how a company’s goals and aspirations impact its business from a risk perspective is key to coordinating effective ESG efforts.

– Similarly, on the topic of ESG disclosure, the speakers encouraged organizations to consider what they want to disclose and why, before they determine how.

– Rather than look externally to ESG standards to govern their disclosure, companies should base their disclosure on their corporate values, their understanding of material risks, the story they wish to tell and the factors that drive their ESG narrative.

– Based on this assessment, companies can better determine what information they should disclose and what frameworks work best to suit those needs.

– Engagement with all corporate stakeholders, not just investors, also serves to improve ESG disclosure.