Archive
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ISSB calls for SASB standards to be made globally applicable
Consultation now open to revise metrics and remove regional bias The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has opened a three-month consultation asking industry for feedback on its proposed methodology to enhance the global applicability of the SASB Standards. Launched in 2011, the SASB Standards aim to help businesses define ESG materiality on a sector-specific basis. In 2018, SASB launched its 77 industry-specific reporting standards for public companies to disclose material environmental risk. In its 38-page long Exposure Draft published on May 11, the ISSB proposes a five-step methodology that suggests a review of the SASB standards, starting by scrapping jurisdiction-specific…
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Audit committee should understand trends in ESG governance, report says
Boards and legal teams need to monitor regulatory landscape Even though oversight for ESG tends to fall primarily with the nominating and governance committee, or in some cases across multiple committees, the role of the audit committee will continue to grow in importance, especially as formal disclosure requirements increase, according to a new study by Deloitte. The firm studied proxy statements filed by S&P 500 companies between October 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022. Nearly all companies in the S&P 500 already disclose information about their board governance approach to ESG as a whole, according to the study. In 2022,…
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Shell investors urged to vote against energy resolution at AGM
PIRC calls on shareholders to vote in favor of Follow This climate campaign – Federal prosecutors in Washington were looking into short-seller activity around the recent volatility in US bank shares sparked by the failure of three regional lenders since March, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC. Short-sellers – traders that profit by betting shares will fall – have come under scrutiny over the past week as government efforts to steady the sector have faltered and investor fears over the health of regional lenders have deepened. Their activity around the banking crisis is an ‘area of interest’ for…
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The week in GRC: Federal prosecutors target short-sellers, ISS does rare U-turn on JPMorgan pay and Icahn’s stock falls
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web Shareholders of energy conglomerate Shell should vote against the company’s energy-transition resolution at the upcoming AGM, according to Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (PIRC). PIRC, a corporate governance and shareholder advisory consultancy, recommends investors vote against resolution 25, which asks shareholders to approve Shell’s Energy Transition Progress for the year 2022. The consultants argue that the $213 bn energy giant has failed to address its climate risks in the latest report. The report reflects the company’s targets to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050. But the proxy…
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African American board representation grew in 2022
KPMG and African American Directors Forum study still finds room for improvement A little more than three quarters (76 percent) of publicly traded companies in the Fortune 1000 had at least one African American director serving on their board as at September 2022, compared with 61 percent in 2020, according to a new report by the KPMG Board Leadership Center and the African American Directors Forum. All (100 percent) of the largest companies – those on the Fortune 100 – had at least one African American director serving on their board for the first time in 2022. But only 22…
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PMG hires general counsel and CCO
Stacey Hanna joins the firm from Lonza Precision Medicine Group (PMG) has hired Stacey Hanna as general counsel and chief compliance officer. She reports to CEO Mark Clein. Hanna was previously vice president and general counsel for global ethics and compliance at Lonza. In that role, she led a global team involved in ethics and compliance, antitrust, diversity and inclusion, cultural change, risk management and strategy and government affairs. She joined Lonza in 2017 when it acquired her former company, Capsugel, from private equity firm KKR & Co. According to her LinkedIn profile, she spent more than five years at…
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Companies seek to limit officers’ liabilities this proxy season
Management proposals filed in response to change in Delaware law Scores of Delaware-incorporated companies are sending proposals to a vote at their AGM this proxy season in an effort to limit their officers’ liabilities. According to Georgeson, 120 companies had filed such proposals as of mid-April and the consulting firm expects that number to rise as more proxy statements are finalized. By mid-April, 22 of those proposals had been voted on: 18 passed, three failed and one result was not disclosed. The average level of support was 92 percent of votes cast. The three proposals that failed were due to…
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ISSB seeks input on priorities for 2023-2025
Consultation opens as standard-setting body gets ready to publish IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 in June A coalition of 185 investors has called on companies to take a more ‘radical approach’ to lowering their use of plastics given the growing financial and reputational risks. The investors have written to issuers in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and grocery retail sectors, such as Britvic, Danone and Target Corp, calling for them to ‘act more swiftly to address the plastics crisis’. ‘Companies must set a clear vision to drastically reduce consumption of single-use plastic packaging in absolute terms, phase out hazardous chemicals…
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SEC to require expanded disclosure of buyback programs
US Chamber of Commerce threatens to fight changes with litigation TheInternational Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)has opened a six-month consultation asking shareholders to provide feedback on its priorities for the next two years. In a statement, the body says that based on research conducted on investors’ needs, it has identified three sustainability-related research projects and one on researching integration reporting. The sustainability-related projects are focused on biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services, human capital and human rights. TheISSBsays disclosure onbiodiversity, ecosystems & ecosystem services would increase companies’ transparency around their activities related to such factors and would in turn help investors make…
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The week in GRC: FTC takes aim at greenwashing and climate activists disrupt Barclays’ AGM
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web ‘The role of lawyers is going to narrow, and the future role of lawyers will be to apply judgment, creativity and empathy – emotional intelligence – to the questions and projects clients give them,’ says Anthony Davis, of counsel with Clyde & Co, giving his verdict on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI). ‘I think it’s going to have a profound and huge effect’ on law firms, he tells Corporate Secretary editor-at-large Ben Maiden in the latest episode of Corporate Secretary’s podcast Governance Matters. For one thing, Davis predicts…