TheCorporateCounsel.net

My colleagues at Morrison Foerster have announced the results of a second annual “GCs and ESG” survey. The highlights of the survey are described as follows:

The results show that ESG considerations have quickly evolved into a top corporate priority over the past year as companies are increasingly balancing ESG regulatory and internal mandates with a focus on both enhancing positive impact for the benefit of shareholders and stakeholders and mitigating negative ESG externalities. As priorities have shifted, so, too, has ESG leadership, with seventy-two percent of respondents this year reporting that either the CEO, Chief Compliance Officer or another C-Suite leader is spearheading ESG strategy, whereas it was only ten percent last year. The top ESG efforts have also shifted somewhat from last year’s focus on “G” (governance) to “E” (environment) this year. This shift is likely due to both more mature governance frameworks and increasing regulatory mandates from leading government agencies across the globe.

On the topic of the ESG backlash that has been coming up more and more these days, the survey indicates that almost half of respondents report that they have neither experienced nor been impacted by anti-ESG backlash, while others report that they have responded to the backlash by focusing on specific, granular areas of concern, such as climate, human rights, or DEI. Fifteen percent of respondents report that they are no longer using the term “ESG” or have changed terminology in response to the anti-ESG backlash. Larger and publicly held companies were more likely than smaller and privately held companies to not use the term “ESG.”

– Dave Lynn