Timely Insights & Perspectives on Corporate Sustainability, Responsibility & Citizenship

Demonstrations of Corporate Citizenship are steadily on the rise – Microsoft is today’s example of the corporate body being a responsible corporate citizen with new requirements in its sourcing and supply chain activities. The top Silicon Valley companies are in the vanguard of stock market appreciation – that is, for… Read More
Update -- on First Quarter 2018 ESG / Sustainable Investment Developments Continuing our commentary on the theme suggested by MSCI's Linda Eiling Lee of Volume and Velocity in 2018 (of change) – current developments have been signalling dramatic and rapid changes in sustainable investing and corporate sustainability in the First Quarter… Read More
New Corporate “E” and “S” QualityScores For 1,500 Companies Are In Addition to the Core “G” Score for Corporate Governance For Investors / Fiduciaries... More “big news” for both corporate sustainability officers and sustainable investment professionals at the start of 2018: Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which began operations in the… Read More
Volume and Velocity: These may well be the key characteristics of developments in corporate sustainability and in sustainable investing in the year 2018 -- MSCI and BlackRock Setting the Pace... Bigger, faster, more...this is how Linda-Eling Lee, Global Head of Research for MSCI’s ESG Research Group and her colleague Matt… Read More
ISS’ Traditional Corporate Governance Focus Expanding to Encompass Environmental & Social QualityScores for Roughly 1,500 Public Companies Coming in January…And Expanding to 5,000 Issuers in Q2 A significant new player is now entering the universe of the growing number of third-party organizations providing institutional investors with ESG rankings and data… Read More
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by 193 nation-members of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015. There are 17 goals and 169 “subsets” or targets. To achieve the goals over time (out to the 2030 target date), collaboration among investors, companies, governments, the UN system, other multilateral… Read More
The American Bar Association, the largest legal trade organization with over 400,000 members worldwide, in more than 3,500 entities. ABA has long been a leader in promoting more effective corporate governance and rule of law, focusing attention on the challenges of global climate change, environmental pollution, renewable energy, sustainable development,… Read More
Consumers are very interested in “what” is in their food (including additives); "how" it was prepared (“industrial farming” is a rising criticism message of activists); and "if" the food was genetically modified or pharmaceuticals were used all along the food value chain. One issue coming into sharper focus is the… Read More
Credit Rater Moody’s Investor Services To Examine Government Sector Response to Climate Change Challenges – the Ripple Effect on the Corporate Sector Moody’s Investor Services, Inc. is one of the Big Three of credit rating agencies for governments and corporations. Part of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO), the service issues ratings and… Read More
Issue 4.1 It's  a question often raised by boards and senior executives, posed to the management team members:  What is the impact, if any, of third-party sustainability rating agencies on our position in the capital markets?  Oekom, the global sustainability research organization, has been asking that question annually since 2013.  And… Read More
October 11, 2017 - Important news for your company out of Washington DC from the Securities & Exchange Commission - On Corporate Disclosure and Reporting -- "Reforms" Proposed We've been watching and waiting since Spring 2016 to see what the Securities & Exchange Commission may be thinking about or doing regarding the possible revamping of… Read More