Governance in Brief – April 6, 2023
Alibaba to cleave off business units Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba has announced plans to split its operations into six separate business groups. The units are Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao Tmall Commerce Group, Local Services Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics Group, Global Digital Commerce Group and Digital Media and Entertainment Group.
Biodiversity For Financial Institutions: Making the LEAP to Better Decision Making and Stewardship
Amid growing pressure to incorporate biodiversity into investment processes, we will outline how financial institutions can perform biodiversity assessments to make meaningful decision, contribute to biodiversity preservation and be accountable to regulators.
ESG In Conversation | How Are Sustainability Professionals Really Putting ESG into Practice?
In this episode of ESG in Conversation, we discuss the results of the Morningstar Sustainalytics Corporate ESG Survey and explore how the responsibilities of sustainability professionals are changing to address their companies' material ESG issues.
Governance in Brief – March 23, 2023
SVB Financial Group sued after the collapse of Silicon Valley bank unit SVB Financial Group, the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, and two of its top executives, CEO Greg Becker and CFO Daniel Beck, are being sued by shareholders following the bank’s collapse. The lawsuit, filed by retail shareholder Chandra Vanipenta on behalf of a group of shareholders, accuses the bank and its two top executives of filing false and misleading financial reports.
Governance in Brief – March 16, 2023
Canada introduces climate reporting framework Canadian regulators have issued new guidance for the country's banks and insurance companies to better manage climate-related risks. The framework, which requires disclosure on governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics related to financial institutions’ greenhouse-gas emissions, was first drafted in 2022.
Managing ESG Performance: A Practical Guide on Corporate Governance, Business Ethics and Human Capital
Discover case studies that provide a deeper understanding of ESG performance management and how to approach corporate governance, business ethics, and human capital risks from a diverse range of industry perspectives.
What’s Happening in Sustainable Finance: Innovative Finance Instruments Breaking Ground, Use of Proceed Bonds Back in Vogue, and More
Could innovation help the sustainable finance market rebound in 2023? Will scrutiny of linked instruments continue to push investors back to use of proceed transactions? We tackle these topics and more in our latest episode.
Inconsistent Definition of ‘Sustainable Investments’ Across EU Regulations Could Cause (Unintentional) Greenwashing
The absence of clear parameters to support the regulatory definition of sustainable investments has pushed market participants to make judgment calls leading to diverging investor approaches.
EU's Iterative Approach to Sustainable Finance Regulations Isn't Perfect, But It's a Good Start
The EU Action Plan for Sustainable Finance has kept the European investment market busy over the past year. In this blog post, we highlight the merits that we see in the EU regulatory package. While not perfect, the regulation is a good start.
Governance in Brief – March 9, 2023
The U.S. Congress has passed a resolution repealing a Department of Labor (“DOL”) rule empowering retirement plan managers to consider climate change and ESG factors in their investment decisions. The rule, introduced by the Biden administration, falls under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), a federal law which sets protection standards for participants in private pension plans. Biden’s ruling entered into force in January this year, overturning prior Trump-era DOL rules that limited pension fund managers to restrict their investment strategies to “pecuniary factors.”
Governance in Brief – March 2, 2023
Indian regulator proposes enhancement to ESG disclosure rules India’s securities and market regulator SEBI has released a new ESG disclosure framework for public consultation. The proposed regulations impact India’s 1,000 largest companies by market capitalization, ESG funds and ESG ratings providers. For the largest companies, the regulator proposes areas of assurance of ESG disclosures and reporting and assurance of ESG footprint of the supply chain. The proposals expand on the 2021 Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (“BRSR”) guidelines and propose mandatory assurance of certain KPIs under ESG disclosure. The KPIs contain intensity ratios such as GHG emissions, water consumption, and waste generation. For supply chain, SEBI will introduce a comply-or-explain approach for the top 250 companies starting in 2024, and assurance beginning in 2025. For ESG funds, SEBI proposes that at least 65% of AUM be invested in companies reporting on comprehensive BRSR and provide assurance on BRSR core disclosures. Under the proposed rules, ESG rating providers should also provide a “core ESG rating” based on assured information in addition to their own products.