SUSTAINABILITY: ROADMAP, PERFORMANCE AND COMMUNICATION
R&C: Could you provide an overview of the rising importance of sustainability? To what extent is this issue becoming a key agenda item for companies?
Davies: We are seeing a rising interest in sustainability or environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in all industries and across the globe. Over the course of the last few years, interest in sustainability issues has accelerated in all sectors to the point that they are now a mainstream business concern for companies across the board. A few years ago, we found that sustainability issues tended to be the exclusive province of sustainability teams within companies, if they were addressed at all. Today, however, we see sustainability issues increasingly integrated across different functions within companies, and in the boardroom. Investors, shareholders, business partners, customers and employees are all starting to measure companies on the basis of their sustainability performance.
Corda: Sustainability has become an important factor in business strategies. It has gone beyond a mere compliance check, evolving into a key aspect of fostering business longevity and long-term success. How a company performs socially, environmentally and ethically is becoming just as important as how it performs financially, with the UN Global Compact-Accenture, ‘CEO Study on Sustainability 2019’ finding that 99 percent of chief executives say that sustainability is important to business success. The growing demand of consumers and investors for sustainable products and services, coupled with increased scrutiny and reporting on corporate responsibility, are driving companies to pay greater attention to their ESG performance.
Oct-Dec 2020 Issue
Latham & Watkins
Milbank LLP
Slaughter and May
Sonnedix UK Services Limited