Do potential ESG claims keep you awake at night? Rest assured, you are not the only one. We see newspapers and our inboxes full of valid ESG concerns, which is why environmental, social, and governance criteria are moving to the forefront of business strategies.
Research by Bank of America in 2019 revealed that S&P 500 companies that had suffered ESG-related controversies since 2014 have seen their stock market values drop by approximately USD 534bn in total. Add that number to the reputational damage and loss of talent, and your worst nightmare is complete.
According to the official data, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive will directly affect about 50.000 companies across the EU. Those firms must report much information about their entire supply chain, including all the smaller companies they work with. So this new directive will affect not just the big companies.
ESG expertise within a company is no longer a 'nice to have'. This is why our next online session of the Risk Leadership Society, Friday, November 3, 1-3 PM CET, will be about how ESG claims can impact your business.
Email rls@magnifor.com to receive a calender-invite with Zoom link.
We are joined by two keynote speakers who have been tried and tested in multiple relevant domains.
Marc Keijzer has more than 20 years of post-qualification experience in national and international private practice and through in-house senior legal risk management positions. He likes helping clients in practically managing their legal risks. He has extensive expertise with corporate and financial law and ESG related matters and their EU Directives and Regulations. Marc obtained a master of law degree from the University of Amsterdam (LLM) and is qualified and practicing in The Netherlands as a lawyer. Marc is also a qualified non-practicing solicitor of England & Wales and has a fair understanding of both Anglo-Saxon and European law concepts. Marc is also a qualified non-practicing solicitor of England & Wales and has a fair understanding of both Anglo-Saxon and European law concepts. Marc is founder of AssistCo, a network organisation providing Legal Risk Management services.
Having worked with disruptive start-ups and scale-ups since the heyday of the dotcom era at the turn of the millennium, Edwin Renes learned one thing: real change comes bottom-up. And if not accelerated by, often severe, impact factors, almost all bottom-up changes take considerable time. This equally applies to achieving ESG goals. Many of the early ESG adapters (whether motivated by an intrinsic drive to do better or merely as a marketing tool not to fall behind and boost sales) saw little change at first. Today, we see many corporations shift from a shareholder model to a stakeholder model. From profit to value.
We also see an entire generation grow up with ESG themes; many firm believers drive this change. ESG is here to stay. Today, employees want to know what their employers are doing to make the world a better place. Customers want to know the ESG impact of many products they are buying. And activists are on the hunt. Younger generations are concerned about their future. Older generations are worried about the future of their children and grandchildren. The world is changing rapidly. Companies that cannot keep or speed up face all sorts of challenges. These challenges must be identified, analyzed, and mitigated.
Edwin holds a Master of Law from the University of Amsterdam. As a lawyer, he assists in private equity and venture capital transactions. He is also General Counsel at a carbon-negative renewable energy gasification company and advises various clients on ESG and sustainability issues from a legal perspective.
Our agenda for this session will be:
Welcome and introduction
Further introduction of our guests
Meaningful introductions
Marc & Edwin's keynote
The Confronting Questions Game (of which we explain the rules during the introduction)
Wrap-up and closing
We welcome you to join us and participate.