On 3 February 2021 at 14:30 (CET), the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business is hosting a webinar on "Bridging the Divide of ESG: Linking business and the legal & risk ecosystems".
A wide array of stakeholders are increasingly focused on organizational environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments. Companies that have embraced ESG and corporate citizenship are finding that it can be challenging to tie aspiration to action. Silos, bureaucracy, gaps in education, as well as lack of coordinated strategies, can be barriers to achieving ESG goals.
One key barrier is between business executives and their legal and governance counterparts. Heads of Sustainability, Corporate Communications and Diversity & Inclusion, CEOs and others often set goals, design plans and communications without engagement with lawyers and governance executives. This can lead to disjointed implementations, executional missteps and sometimes major reputational and legal risk issues.
The webinar will explore the following topics:
- The growing significance of ESG commitments and values to stakeholders
- Practical ways that organizations can be more inclusive and transparent in how ESG commitments are created, as well as mechanisms for better tracking, measuring and monitoring progress
- How legal and business objectives can act as a catalyst for board support
- The impact of ESG commitments on reputation, long-term value and financial performance
- Strategies for furthering ESG goals and awareness within institutions, including expanded educational and training curricula
- How to cross-fertilize between businesses, the legal ecosystem and academia to arrive at real-world best practices
- How to address stakeholder and board concerns in regards to ESG while maintaining legal and business objectives