Archive
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SEC’s Lee puts climate disclosure on the agenda
Agency to use review process to begin updating 2010 guidance – The Wall Street Journal reported that, according to people familiar with the matter, a group of activist investors has taken a big stake in Kohl’s and is trying to take control of the company’s board. The group controls a combined 9.5 percent stake in the department-store chain and earlier this year nominated nine people to its now 12-person board, the people said. The activists think Kohl’s isn’t moving fast enough to tackle stagnant sales and declining operating margins, issues that predate the pandemic, the people said. Kohl’s said in…
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The week in GRC: US banks face climate stress tests and Norway SWF eyes corporate audit quality
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web Acting SEC chair Allison Herren Lee has taken action on corporate reporting around climate change. Lee on Wednesday issued a statement announcing that she has directed the division of corporation finance to ‘enhance its focus on climate-related disclosure in public company filings,’ noting that the SEC in February 2010 issued guidance on existing disclosure requirements as they apply to climate change. As part of its enhanced focus, the division will review the extent to which public companies address the topics identified in the 2010 guidance, assess compliance with disclosure…
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The ESG Integration Forum: An opportunity to level-set
Sustainability goes mainstream as regulators and industry bodies propose ground rules and frameworks for ESG data and reporting SPONSORED CONTENT While it may seem we have been on the cusp of mainstream integration of sustainability – or ESG issues – for many years now, perhaps 2020 was the year it actually happened. Indeed, so much is happening at so many levels, from the identification of global systemic risks that are not of an economic nature (prima facie) but of an environmental or social nature to the awakening to the reality of climate change and the need for science-based targets and…
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GOP senators criticize Nasdaq’s board diversity plan
Companies would be required to have – or explain why they do not have – at least two diverse directors The Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee have urged the SEC to shut down Nasdaq’s proposal for promoting diversity on boards, amid support from both investors and corporate commenters for the initiative’s ‘comply-or-explain’ approach. Nasdaq in December filed a proposal with the SEC to adopt new listing rules that would require companies to have – or explain why they do not have – at least two diverse directors, including one who self-identifies as female and one who self-identifies as…
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Senate Dems back diversity disclosure bill
Law would require companies to report racial, gender, ethnic and veteran composition of boards and top management Nasdaq-listed Arcutis Biotherapeutics has recruited Courtney Barton as chief compliance officer (CCO), chief of staff and chief privacy officer. Barton was previously vice president for commercial excellence and CCO at Cipla Therapeutics, a division of Cipla, USA. She began her career in the compliance and ethics field at Winn-Dixie Stores before taking on roles in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry with Bausch + Lomb, Allergan, KYTHERA, Anacor and MannKind Corporation. Arcutis is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing treatments related…
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Arcutis Biotherapeutics hires CCO
Courtney Barton was previously compliance chief with Cipla Therapeutics Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, with the support of nine other Senate Democrats, on Tuesday introduced legislation that would require public companies to disclose information regarding the racial, gender, ethnic and veteran composition of their boards and senior management. According to a statement from Menendez’s office, the Improving Corporate Governance Through Diversity Act is designed to address what it calls shortcomings in SEC diversity-disclosure requirements. In addition to requiring companies to report demographic information, the legislation would require the director of the SEC’s office of minority and women inclusion…
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La-Z-Boy names successor to general counsel
Raphael Richmond will also be compliance chief Furniture company La-Z-Boy is promoting Raphael Richmond, senior director of corporate compliance and employment law, to become vice president and general counsel, effective April 25. She will also hold the role of chief compliance officer (CCO). Richmond will succeed Stephen Krull, who is retiring. In a related move, Uzma Ahmad, who is at present senior director of corporate law and assistant secretary, has been appointed vice president, deputy general counsel and corporate secretary, also effective April 25. Krull will work with Richmond and Ahmad on the transition. As general counsel and CCO, Richmond…
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ESG reporting in Canada doubled between 2016 and 2019, study finds
GRI appears to be favored reporting framework The adoption of ESG reporting has increased significantly since 2016, with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) being the most-used reporting framework, according to a new study from Millani. More than two thirds (71 percent) of companies included in the S&P/TSX Composite index published a 2019 ESG or sustainability report, according to Millani’s analysis, which was completed in December 2020. The number of Canadian companies publishing ESG or sustainability reports has doubled since 2016, showing a gradual uptick for full years 2016 (36 percent), 2017 (39 percent) and 2018 (48 percent), followed by a…
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Meta-study underlines ties between ESG and corporate success
Researchers looked at more than 1,000 peer-reviewed papers and 27 meta-reviews – The Wall Street Journal reported that IBM said it aims to reach net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030, with a target of 65 percent lower emissions by 2025 from 2010 levels. It said it would use 75 percent renewable electricity by 2025 and 90 percent by 2030. The company believes its own research can promote emerging technologies such as carbon capture to meet its new net-zero climate-change goal. ‘We’re not going to be in the business of capturing carbon, but we are in the business of working with companies…
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SEC denies J&J request to exclude racial-audit proposal
Investors are seeking to have third party assess company’s impact The SEC has rejected a request from Johnson & Johnson that it exclude from its proxy statement a shareholder proposal that it conduct a ‘civil rights audit.’ Trillium Asset Management, on behalf of Christopher and Anne Ellinger, has submitted the measure requesting that Johnson & Johnson ‘conduct and publish a third-party audit… to review its corporate policies, practices, products and services, above and beyond legal and regulatory matters; to assess the racial impact of the company’s policies, practices, products and services; and to provide recommendations for improving the company’s racial…