Workshop Overview
For decades corporations around the world were driven toward the single and unifying goal of maximizing shareholder value. The proof of succeeding or failing was found in the financial measures of the firm, with judgement swiftly and efficiently conveyed in the stock price.
As many corporations built complex global operations grew, commanding revenues and resources dwarfing the communities in which they operated questions emerged about the impact of these powerful entities. Communities, employees, regulators and other stakeholders raised questions about the extent to which financial results alone were sufficient to explain the impact the companies had on the environment and society. These non-financial
questions took on different forms and were asked in
different ways, but eventually coalesced in the finance and
policy realms as “environmental, social and governance,” or
ESG issues.
The ESG issue has moved from the margins of finance to
the centre stage as investors, communities and regulators
demand much more extra-financial information from
companies to understand the full impact of their
operations. The operating environment for all companies
is undergoing a fundamental and unrelenting shift which is
both demanding and chaotic.
In Module I we will trace the evolution of what we now call
ESG and develop the themes of the individual elements,
explore the nature and scope of the demands of various
stakeholder groups, and observe the challenges they
convey to businesses.
Next, we’ll examine what we mean by ESG from a variety of
perspectives. We will then review how forces have
converged to push ESG into the mainstream of business
and government. We will study emerging ESG frameworks,
identifying common threads in a complex and fluid
environment.
In Module II we will view the ESG challenge from the
perspective of the corporation, exploring new demands
require new approaches to business strategy in order to
adapt and thrive. Risk management must evolve to
integrate previously unmanaged sources or risk.
Companies are reformulating initiatives and objectives to
respond to broadening definitions and increasing
expectations of corporate citizenship. We will explore how
new synapses are being formed between executive
management, directors, operating entities and risk
management to embed transformational changes in the
way companies do business.
In Module III we will shift the frame to investors’ role in ESG.
How, and to what extent, has demand for ESG changed
investment strategies? What challenges do individual and
institutional investors faces when trying to incorporate
non-financial measures in the analytical and portfolio
construction processes? We will review concepts relating
to the challenges of identifying reliable ESG data, the
applicability of ESG ratings, and “greenwashing” issues.