Even as interest in sustainability reporting grows along with anticipation for slated new SEC disclosure proposals on climate and Human Capital Management, the reports themselves continue to suffer something of an identity crisis. Often, sustainability reports are prized by investors and other stakeholders, and yet no clear consensus has been reached on precisely what these reports should contain, or how they should present material information. During DFIN’s June 2021 webinar, “Navigating the Corporate ESG Journey: Strategies and Lessons Learned,” Andrew Ciafardini, Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of Global Public Policy for FIS, outlined several strategies and steps for creating an award-winning ESG report. FIS, which published its first sustainability report in 2020, was chosen by IR Magazine as 2021 winner in the category of best ESG reporting.
Frank Kelley, Director of ESG & Compliance Services for DFIN, and Louis Coppola, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President at the Governance & Accountability Institute, also shared insights about how aspiring companies could embark on an ESG journey capped off by a successful report.
Kelley acknowledges that “ESG is a gray, fuzzy term,” and “ESG topics can have different importance for different industries, especially on the social side.” ESG, he says, is “really a way to help stakeholders identify risks that are not profiled by conventional financials or the company story.” He continues: “[It’s] the new paradigm for stakeholders to profile those risks that could have a very dire effect on a company’s bottom line and its reputation.”
To listen to a recording of the hourlong webinar, go to https://www.dfinsolutions.com/knowledge-hub/webinars/navigating-corporate-esg-journey
Click below for the full blog:
