Environmental Social And Governance Esg Laws Regulations And Practices In The Digital Era

In the past two decades, the traditional role of corporate governance has been greatly augmented and transformed by increased attention to the importance of social inclusion in business decisions and of environmental impacts of business activities, giving rise to the now well-understood linkage among environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. This book is the first to thoroughly analyze the ESG phenomenon as a tripartite corporate purpose model and the profusion of laws and regulations it continues to engender. Drawing on perspectives from law, economics, and business management, the book focuses on those ESG challenges that are most likely to impact companies in the coming years. The author discusses such aspects of ESG law, regulation, and practice as the following: impact of digitalization on ESG practices; competing ESG perspectives and whether there are signs of convergence toward a more universal model; impact of corporate ownership patterns; review of hard and soft law responses; corporate control under COVID-19 pandemic conditions; workplace and workforce transformations; various ESG-related corporate scandals and controversies; ESG regulatory responses from international entities such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO); and seminal ESG cases in various business sectors. The emphasis throughout is on developments in the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom, both because it is in those jurisdictions that ESG challenges have been and are most fully dealt with and because these economies taken together are likely to continue exerting dominating influence across the world. What this book says about ESG provides pertinent insights and guidance for those seeking a better understanding of ESG practices and underlying theories across major economies. With essential information and guidance for ESG law practitioners, policymakers, and academicians, the book gives clarity and guidance as to who should lead the charge for ESG practices in business enterprises in major jurisdictional settings. Its detailed coverage of best ESG practices will be welcomed by those conducting their business enterprises within approved regulatory perimeters.

In the past two decades, the traditional role of corporate governance has been greatly augmented and transformed by increased attention to the importance of social inclusion in business decisions and of environmental impacts of business activities, giving rise to the now well-understood linkage among environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. This book is the first to thoroughly analyze the ESG phenomenon as a tripartite corporate purpose model and the profusion of laws and regulations it continues to engender. Drawing on perspectives from law, economics, and business management, the book focuses on those ESG challenges that are most likely to impact companies in the coming years. The author discusses such aspects of ESG law, regulation, and practice as the following: impact of digitalization on ESG practices; competing ESG perspectives and whether there are signs of convergence toward a more universal model; impact of corporate ownership patterns; review of hard and soft law responses; corporate control under COVID-19 pandemic conditions; workplace and workforce transformations; various ESG-related corporate scandals and controversies; ESG regulatory responses from international entities such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO); and seminal ESG cases in various business sectors. The emphasis throughout is on developments in the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom, both because it is in those jurisdictions that ESG challenges have been and are most fully dealt with and because these economies taken together are likely to continue exerting dominating influence across the world. What this book says about ESG provides pertinent insights and guidance for those seeking a better understanding of ESG practices and underlying theories across major economies. With essential information and guidance for ESG law practitioners, policymakers, and academicians, the book gives clarity and guidance as to who should lead the charge for ESG practices in business enterprises in major jurisdictional settings. Its detailed coverage of best ESG practices will be welcomed by those conducting their business enterprises within approved regulatory perimeters.

European Company Law Series, Volume 19 Compelling new perspectives on corporate governance – including attention to increased shareholder engagement, long-term value creation, and sustainability – have given rise to major changes in the management of companies. Yet, until this book, there has been no systematic account of the legislative and soft law instruments designed to promote good corporate governance practices across the range of sizes and types of companies. The book analyses the various instruments that legislators and others have used to promote good corporate governance in European companies and assesses their value in practice. Nineteen well-known scholars of business and corporate law delve into how such issues and topics as the following are approached across the spectrum of corporate governance instruments available in Europe: corporate codes of conduct; procedural rules regulating how directors make decisions; rules on board composition and remuneration; regulating boards in small- and medium-sized enterprises; public enforcement of directors’ duties; how digitalisation may affect implementation of corporate governance instruments; reporting rules; rules on the empowerment of minority shareholders; the role of the general meeting; regulation of the market for corporate control; certifications; rules on liability of directors; and role of auditors and accountants. In its in-depth analysis of the benefits and potential disadvantages of each instrument and what may be achieved both at company level and generally, this book will prove of value to all concerned with promoting responsible corporate governance, whether in business, government, or academia.

Sustainable investing is a rapidly growing and evolving field. With investors expressing ever greater interest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics and reporting, companies face a sustainability imperative and the need to remake their business models to respond to an array of pressing issues including climate change, air and water pollution, racial justice, workplace diversity, economic inequality, privacy, corporate integrity, and good governance. From equities to fixed income and from private equity to impact-investing, investors of all kinds now want to understand which companies will be marketplace leaders in a business future redefined by sustainability. Thus, investment strategies, risk models, financial vehicles, applications, data, metrics, standards, and regulations are all changing rapidly around the world. In an effort to better understand the current status and movement of this dynamic field and to provide a practical reference for the growing pool of investors, financial advisors, companies, and academics seeking information on sustainable investing and ESG reporting, this edited book covers the latest trends, tools, and thinking. It showcases the work of authors from leading companies and academic institutions across a range of vital topics such as financial disclosure, portfolio assessment, ESG metrics construction, and law as well as regulation. Readers of the book will be better able to identify and address the hurdles to moving mainstream capital toward more sustainable companies, investments, and projects.

This book applies environmental, social and governance (ESG) to issues of sustainable development in healthcare. ESG reporting has been widely used for some time in the business industry to show the economic, social and environmental responsibilities of companies that aim to achieve superior ESG performance for lower risk, more accountability and transparency. Moreover, public-listed companies in healthcare have been growing in significant numbers in recent years. The application or practice of ESG in healthcare has become a growing trend for these large organisations looking to demonstrate their strengths in areas of financing, operations, sustainability and social responsibilities. Such an approach is essential not only for the long-term development of the companies but also for services delivered by healthcare practitioners. Equally, the implications to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 is relevant to healthcare worldwide with a growing ageing population, which has led to a great burden of care in many countries, particularly in the public sector. The potential development and expansion in private healthcare services, accelerated by technology advancement, has demanded a new paradigm in the healthcare industry, particularly in business, service delivery and policy. The book examines this paradigm through health in all policies, ESG and SDG 3 objectives, research, training and practice. It is relevant to graduate students and scholars working in areas relating to health, business and the SDGs and is also useful to policymakers and practitioners in healthcare.

This survey examines the vibrant academic literature on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. While there is no consensus on the exact list of ESG issues, responsible investors increasingly assess stocks in their portfolios based on nonfinancial data on environmental impact (e.g., carbon emissions), social impact (e.g., employee satisfaction), and governance attributes (e.g., board structure). The objective is to reduce exposure to investments that pose greater ESG risks or to influence companies to become more sustainable. One active area of research at present involves assessing portfolio risk exposure to climate change. This literature review focuses on institutional investors, which have grown in importance such that they have now become the largest holders of shares in public companies globally. Historically, institutional investors tended to concentrate their ESG efforts mostly on corporate governance (the “G” in ESG). These efforts included seeking to eliminate provisions that restrict shareholder rights and enhance managerial power, such as staggered boards, supermajority rules, golden parachutes, and poison pills. Highlights from this section: · There is no consensus on the exact list of ESG issues and their materiality. · The ESG issue that gets the most attention from institutional investors is climate change, in particular their portfolio companies’ exposure to carbon risk and “stranded assets.” · Investors should be positioning themselves for increased regulation, with the regulatory agenda being more ambitious in the European Union than in the United States. Readers might come away from this survey skeptical about the potential for ESG investing to affect positive change. I prefer to characterize the current state of the literature as having a “healthy dose of skepticism,” with much more remaining to be explored. Here, I hope the reader comes away with a call to action. For the industry practitioner, I believe that the investment industry should strive to achieve positive societal goals. CFA Institute provides an exemplary case in its Future of Finance series (www.cfainstitute.org/research/future-finance). For the academic community, I suggest we ramp up research aimed at tackling some of the open questions around the pressing societal goals of ESG investing. I am optimistic that practitioners and academics will identify meaningful ways to better harness the power of global financial markets for addressing the pressing ESG issues facing our society.

The authors have done an excellent job explaining the development and practice of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). Under the recent recognition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Asia and its strong emphasis by US and European corporations, this book provides important guidance to students and professionals who are interested in the effects and implications of SRI. This book is truly informative and should be on the reading list of all fund managers and CFOs of international corporations which are serious about CSR. Louis T.W. Cheng, Hong Kong Polytechnic University Individual investors and corporate heads have the responsibility to keep abreast of major changes in the marketplace. Socially responsible investment is one of those changes. Fung, Law and Yau provide, in a single source, a great opportunity to get up to date on an area that will be a force for years to come. I encourage any thoughtful investor or manager to read this book. Thomas Schneeweis, University of Massachusetts Amherst, US Socially responsible investment (SRI) is becoming increasingly popular and can be potentially rewarding to all parties concerned. This book discusses the opportunities, challenges, and practices of SRI in a global financial environment in a consistent and integrated framework of risk management. It also covers a wide variety of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues related to various participants, such as values-based retail, institutional investors, corporations, banks, supranational agencies, and non-governmental organizations. Readers are provided with the perspectives of SRI from various players in the financial community from values-based investors to fiduciaries to supranational agencies. The authors analyse the incorporation of ESG issues into investment practices within a regulatory, legal, reputational, and operational risk management framework. Academics, corporate executives, government regulators and policymakers, bankers, and non-governmental organizations involved with sustainable development will find much of interest in this book.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing: A Balanced Analysis of the Theory and Practice of a Sustainable Portfolio presents a balanced, thorough analysis of ESG factors as they are incorporated into the investment process. An estimated 25% of all new investments are in ESG funds, with a global total of $23 trillion and the U.S. accounting for almost $9 trillion. Many advocate the sustainability goals promoted by ESG, while others prefer to maximize returns and spend their earnings on social causes. The core problem facing those who want to promote sustainability goals is to define sustainability investing and measure its returns. This book examines theories and their practical implications, illuminating issues that other books leave in the shadows. Provides a dispassionate examination of ESG investing Presents the historical arguments for maximizing returns and competing theories to support an ESG approach Reviews case studies of empirical evidence about relative returns of both traditional and ESG investment approaches