The ESG Agenda is Brunswick Group's podcast hosted by Partner Amelia Pan. Below are all the episodes from our first season, which concluded in July 2020.
As Season 1 of The ESG Agenda draws to a close, Amelia Pan is joined by Betsy Atkins, three-time CEO and experienced director on more than 60 private and public company Boards, including Schneider Electric, Volvo Cars, and Home Depot Supply. She a leading voice on ESG in the Boardroom and the author of Be Board ReadyAmelia and Betsy discuss differences between US and European Board governance, cautions that ESG will be the Trojan Horse into the boardroom for shareholder activists, and despite the noise and complexity, she encourages Boards to just get started on ESG.
Climate change has been called the leading source of threat to global financial stability, as the increasing number of catastrophic events impact central banks, regulators and financial institutions. Faced with pressure over their role in the climate crisis – and sensing an opportunity - some banks are pushing ahead with innovative environmental finance products and green transition investments. In Episode 5, Amelia Pan speaks with Alexandra Basirov, Global Head of Sustainable Finance for BNP Paribas about how the pandemic has highlighted systemic risks in the economy and how financial institutions can be part of the climate solution by financing the transition to a more sustainable economy.
In Episode 4 of The ESG Agenda, Amelia is joined by Diversity and Inclusion Specialist Antoinette Boateng. With major global upheavals underway on issues of social justice and racial equality, and the strengthened priorities in young people and the future workforce, a company’s focus on its people and culture is now a business-critical issue that cannot be ignored.>Amelia and Antoinette discuss the complex challenges companies face today and steps that businesses can take to develop a truly diverse talent pipeline for long-term success.
Amid growing acknowledgment that ESG-related strategic issues are a Board responsibility, Amelia talks with Karina Litvack, Independent Non-Executive Director at Eni SpA, Italian oil and gas giant. Karina takes us inside the Boardroom discussion behind Eni’s recent ambitious climate announcement, discusses why Board qualifications must evolve to include climate expertise, describes her initiative to help Board members develop that fluency, and tells us why Boards should encourage their CEOs to be activists.
In Episode 2 of The ESG Agenda, Amelia speaks with Charles King, Head of Investor Relations for FTSE 100-listed company Halma plc. With 20 years’ experience in investor relations for companies like Worldpay, Lloyds and Cadbury, Charles tells Amelia how ESG is influencing his engagement with analysts and investors, how he tackles all those ESG surveys, and what it takes to build a corporate sustainability programme.
In our opening episode, Amelia is joined by Janine Guillot, CEO of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). Since the launch of SASB’s 77 industry-specific standards in 2018, more than 100 global companies are now using SASB’s standards to disclose financially material, decision-useful sustainability information to investors. Janine tells Amelia why ESG has become so important, why ESG disclosure is a critical communications tool for companies to investors, and how the publication of the SASB standards marked an important milestone for global capital markets.