I had the pleasure of attending the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) – Philadelphia Chapter meeting yesterday morning at the Union League in Philadelphia. Very good attendance to hear Dave Stangis (Campbell’s Soup), Jamie Rantanen (US Trust) and Jennifer Wong (Glenmede) discuss the topic of ESG (“Environmental, Social and Governance”) as it relates to public company and private company investment.
ESG provides companies and investors with a systematic means to identify risk within the lens of environmental issues, social issues and governance issues. Different, but related to, Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) which is the means of improving social outcomes within an organization and how and organization measures its ESG outcomes.
Super conversation and some interesting questions from the audience during the presentation that touched on aligning values with investment outcomes (i.e., impact investing), risk mitigation through focus on ESG, the Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs), the increase of shareholder activism in the investment space, including an increased focus on ESG issues, the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (or SASB) and their focus on measurable sustainability metrics, and the difference between philanthropy, impact investing, ESG investing and standard market investing.
To the question about ESG and is it relevant from the audience member focused on mutual fund investing – the panel and this author firmly believe yes, ESG is relevant, becoming more relevant and an increasing amount of investors are seeking to invest in companies that align their ROI with ESG. No, not everyone, of course, but more and more as time goes on. I for one believe ESG will continue to become more relevant as a lens within which to view investing, efficiency, and alignment of investor interests with companies that more closely match their values.
I look forward to engaging in the conversation as the year progresses and to including some of my friends and colleagues in a monthly chat on ESG. Come join us if of interest.
Check out RBS’s chart at http://go.pardot.com/l/441592/2018-09-18/jjjrt8 for some interesting data
See also, Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock’s statement on ESG – https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/literature/publication/blk-esg-investment-statement-web.pdf
#Sustainability #ESG #SRI #impactinvesting #governance #SASB #environmental, social, governanceBrad