ORALS

Companies have long taken environmental and social and governance (ESG) factors into account when managing businesses as a way to reduce risk, address mission and respond to stakeholder priorities.  However, in recent years what has been a rather loose, subjective set of principles has morphed into something different.  Touting good ESG practices can be an important marketing strategy, but critics can point to examples when the marketing hype fell short of reality, so-called “green-washing”.  Other critics question whether non-monetary considerations should be used when considering business decisions or argue that ESG is purely a political tool with no commercial merit.   Many businesses now are believed to be “green-hushing”, meaning that they continue to use the ESG metrics to operate their businesses but are speaking about it less openly.  At the same time, investment mandates for “green” are not going away.  Regulators are taking greater notice of ESG-related disclosures, and the consequences for misstatements are increasing.  Accordingly, for companies managing their ESG compliance, they will need to consider business operations, communications, marketing, strategy and legal issues.  The speaker intends to lead a spirited discussion of the appropriate uses of ESG in business decision-making, risk mitigation and the roles of lawyers in advising clients about these issues.