Esg Evolution

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.

Delve into the intricate tapestry of sustainability, investment strategies, and governance standards. Khan's transformative narrative navigates historical origins, dissecting ESG's development with meticulous insight. From its ethical roots, ESG burgeoned into a multifaceted paradigm, embracing environmental preservation, social equity, and governance.

The book addresses the criticality of the Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) framework in the contemporary business world, especially in the Indian context. It aims to provide a conceptual understanding of ESG, extensively detailing each component (Environmental, Social, Governance). The book is a practical guide for stakeholders like Sustainability & ESG Professionals, Students, Non-Financial Audit & Assurance Professionals, Board Members, Investors, Consumers, and Employees. The Present Publication is the 2024 Edition, authored by Prof. Garima Dadhich and Dr. Ravi Raj Atrey, with the following noteworthy features: • [ESG as a Crucial Concept] The book emphasizes ESG as a vital and increasingly popular concept, highlighting its importance for the sustainability and competitiveness of businesses • [Relevance to Indian Context] It addresses the unique challenges and dilemmas faced in the adoption, integration, practice, and reporting of ESG within the Indian landscape • [Comprehensive Coverage] The book offers a conceptual understanding of fundamental ESG aspects and delves deep into each ESG component • [Practical Guidance] Readers are provided with a step-by-step guide to initiating and implementing ESG practices in a company • [Innovative Concepts] This book features unique contributions like the 'New Theory of Responsibility', advocating for responsible capitalism and a new age of responsibility • [Originality Approaches] It introduces original approaches for businesses to integrate ESG and benefit from positive practices genuinely • [Solar System Model of ESG] This book presents an innovative 'Solar System Model of ESG', exclusively developed by the authors • [Focus on Indian ESG Dynamics] This book analyses essential elements of ESG, specifically tailored to the Indian context The detailed contents of the book are as follows: • [ESG – Definitions, Theories, & Models] – This chapter discusses the established definitions of ESG, tailoring them to the Indian context. It analyses the global and Indian evolution of ESG, presenting existing theories alongside a novel theory of responsibility. Various ESG models, including a new 'solar system model', are introduced for comprehensive understanding • [ESG in India] – Focusing on the Indian landscape, this chapter discusses the evolution of ESG in India, detailing the tools for integration, practice, measurement, rating, and reporting. It defines key concepts such as NGRBC and BRSR, explores the regulatory environment, and examines significant trends and issues in Indian ESG • [Beginning with ESG Journey in an Organization] – This practical chapter outlines steps for initiating an ESG journey within an organization. It covers baseline assessment, benchmarking, policy development, target setting, performance monitoring, auditing, and reporting. Additionally, it links ESG to branding, investing, profitability, and risk mitigation and aligns it with global goals like the SDGs • [Environmental Dimensions of ESG] – This chapter addresses India's environmental risks, responsible investing, and regulatory frameworks. Key concepts such as Climate Change, Carbon Accounting, Business and Biodiversity Conservation, and others are explored. It also introduces tools like EIA, CRZ, and Eco-labelling • [Social Dimensions of ESG] – This chapter discusses the social aspects of ESG, including risks, diversity and inclusion, human rights, community relations, and CSR. It also provides information on social impact certifications and auditing tools • [Governance Dimensions of ESG] – Redefining corporate purpose in the context of responsibility, this chapter revisits corporate performance, leadership, shareholder rights and duties, corporate governance in Indian law, and effective board management. It also discusses transparency, financial disclosure, and risk management, offering insights into global best practices • [ESG Trends, Challenges and Way Forward] – This concluding chapter offers insights into the current state of ESG in India, including key targets, challenges, and achievements. It discusses the benefits of adopting ESG practices, the role of government institutions, and perspectives on sustainable value addition and sustainability champions

Over the last decade, socially responsible investments (SRIs) have become paramount to both professionals and academics. In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-8, practitioners have become much more involved in new financial models that integrate returns and positive social and environmental impacts. The authors argue that previous irresponsible financial models are anachronistic, and propose a new relationship between stakeholder and shareholder. Starting from the mainstreaming of SRI, this book recovers the social function of banks and the innovative role of crowdfunding and venture capital models. The book offers a unified perspective for firm and funder, making it a timely and invaluable read for scholars and practitioners interested in sustainable development and social impact finance.

Your guide to investing for a more sustainable world Investing in one’s own future has always been a good financial move. But what if you want to ensure that the companies you have a financial interest in are also helping to improve the present and future of all of us—and of the planet? More than ever before, sustainable investors want to be confident that a company’s Environmental (net zero emissions target), Social (response to the Covid-19 pandemic), and Governance (no repeats of Enron and WorldCom) policies and actions are positively impacting the global outlook—and to identify ways that their dollar can incentivize business leaders to do even better. The worldwide rise of an Environmental, Socially Responsible, and Governance (ESG) approach to investing shows you’re not alone, and the $30+ trillion—and growing—committed in this way says it’s already become a transformative global movement. ESG provides a framework for evaluating companies that, unlike unrelated investment strategies, informs and guides sustainable investment. Even if you’re a novice investor, ESG For Dummies will allow you to hit this new investing landscape running, providing you with measurable ways to factor ESG into company performance, see how these are reflected in your investment return, and show how you can monitor companies to ensure your money is being put to ethical use. You’ll also become familiar with the big names to follow in the ESG world, how they’re already effecting positive change, and how you can help. Identify the drivers for each category of ESG Define and measure material ESG factors for investing success Understand principles for building a diversified sustainable portfolio Recognize material ESG factors effect on company performance ESG investing introduces powerful tools to do real and lasting good: this book shows you how to use them to help make everyone’s future, including your own, much more secure.

In a complex political and environmental global landscape, it has never been more critical for global organizations to understand the past, present, and future of Chinese corporate governance: this book is the key. Leveraging her dual-cultural background and using a board-level practitioner’s lens, Lyndsey Zhang offers insights that will help the global business community better understand Chinese companies’ corporate governance practices and economic development journeys, shorten the learning curve for global business leaders and investors, and explore different economic models that better suit emerging markets. She addresses important questions such as: • How does the Chinese government manage to retain its controlling position in Chinese companies while still making them attractive to global investors? • What are the drivers for Chinese companies’ future corporate governance improvement? • What is China’s position on the worldwide ESG and climate change movements? • How can global practitioners feel less like "navigating in the dark" when working with Chinese companies? This book will be an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the rapidly changing world of Chinese corporate governance, including global investors, senior executives in multinational corporations, consultants, financial and political policymakers, business and law students, and researchers.

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.

Since the 2021, the financial industry evolved to include ESG criteria in its products and processes. Thanks to regulatory pressures and public opinion, Sustainable Finance is becoming THE new standard for financial centres across Europe. However, a lack of knowledge and common definitions are still present to define its key concepts. Since 2021, EFPA Luxembourg launched an original initiative to democratise best practices in Sustainable Finance and establish clear and common definitions for its key concepts. Today, the EFPA ESG Handbook is joined by more than fifty entities and seventy co-authors sharing the same ambitions. Over the EFPA ESG Advisor certification, launched in 2021 and owned by more than 8’000 financial advisors across Europe, the European Financial Planning Association (EFPA) wants to help to close the gap between the current level of information and the level necessary due to increasing regulatory requirements around the integration of ESG criterion. This is why, the EFPA ESG Handbook is becoming digital, with the addition of a dedicated website to enrich its content, improve its update, and avoid its obsolescence. On this site and on top of their handbook, owners of the EFPA ESG Handbook will find enriched content, a regularly updated information base and practical tools for filtering the various headings on the site. History, regulation, investment products, investment process, risk management... this handbook offers a 360° point of view over the landscape of the Green Finance. We hope this journey will help the reader to have a better understanding of what Sustainable Finance means, looking at its framework, its aims, and its challenges. I wish you a pleasant reading.