Archive

Sustainability

  • ESG doublespeak: Knowing the score with ESG ratings

    November 10, 2022

    In post “1. The uncomfortable truth”, we highlighted how ESG ratings don’t measure a company’s impact on the Earth and society. Let’s now look at how companies might assess CSR-bang for ESG-buck and how third-party ratings can play a role in the trouble with ESG. It had all started so well. In 2004, the Secretary-General of the United Nations wrote to over 50 CEOs of major financial institutions. He invited them to participate in a...

  • FleishmanHillard COP27 Reflections: Finance that’s fit for the future

    November 9, 2022

    Imogen Sackey, Associate Director, Corporate Reputation & Purpose On Sunday, Managing Director of Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism Petrus Muteyauli captured the spirit of COP27 powerfully: “COP21 told us what to do, COP26 told us how to do it and COP27 calls us to go to the battlefield and implement what we decided over the past 27 years.” In recent years, the world has heard repeatedly of pledges to tackle the climate challenge with...

  • ESG doublespeak: The uncomfortable truth about ESG investing

    November 2, 2022

    The audience was stunned. During his presentation at an FT Moral Money event on 19 May 2022, Stuart Kirk, the head of responsible investments at HSBC Asset Management, was adamant: “Climate change is not a financial risk that we need to worry about.” Was he breaking rank or shining a light on general insincerity? Despite its surge in popularity, many suspect that ESG investing will not address our generation’s urgent challenges. Consider the battle against...

  • Time to clean up: Greenwashing in asset management

    October 5, 2022

      Caitlin Whyte, senior account manager Earlier this year, an asset management firm made global headlines after its offices were raided in Frankfurt, following accusations of greenwashing. In New York, the US Securities and Exchange Commission fined a different investment manager $1.5m for allegedly misstating and omitting information about their ESG investments. Back in the UK, the tidal wave of activity and awareness around tackling climate change continues to build. For many in asset management...

  • No time to lie: Gen-Z’s perspective on corporate greenwashing

    July 15, 2022

    TJ Jordan, Creative and Caitlin Whyte, Account Manager Authentic Action With the increase in demand for global brands to be more sustainable, how many brands are actually living up to their claims of committing to green practice? In recent times, the term ‘greenwashing’ has been used to describe companies that purport to be environmentally conscious for marketing or reputational purposes, but their action does not reflect the message they are communicating. Research shows that Gen-Z...

  • Davos Reflections: A look back on the World Economic Forum’s DAVOS 2022

    May 30, 2022

    Last week saw the return of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos – its first in two years. It wasn’t just the January snow that was missing, with heads of state, A-list celebrities, and a sense of optimism also hard to find in the mountains of Switzerland. Hanging over the week’s discussions was a philosophical question: Does Davos still matter?   Given the goal of Davos is to provide a platform for leaders...

  • FleishmanHillard Davos Digest 2022: Day 4

    May 27, 2022

    Davos Digest 2022, Day Four: View from EEMEA Well, we made it. That’s a wrap on another year of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Today, the jets will take off and the cleaners will move in to sweep up all those discarded lanyards and business cards. Looking back at the week, a pretty clear consensus emerges: this has been the most politicised Davos conference in years, with the war in Ukraine completely dominating the...

  • FleishmanHillard Davos Digest 2022: Day 1

    May 23, 2022

    Davos Digest 2022: Day One  Welcome to day one of FleishmanHillard’s Davos Digest 2022.  Much has changed in the two years since the world’s elites gathered in a Swiss mountain village to discuss the world’s biggest problems. And we’re not just talking about the seasons: cast your mind back to January 2020, the coronavirus outbreak in China was barely registering as a concern for attendees, while despite the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine, the...

  • ESG becomes key to unlocking the B2B sales process

    April 12, 2022

    How is ESG Changing the B2B Buying Process? ESG continues to rise up the agenda  Recent years have left many reeling from what feels like a constant state of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic, resulting economic pressures, racial injustice, and climate change have all dominated the news agenda.   As a result, politicians, investors, the media and the public at large are reassessing the role businesses play in society, and whether they ought to be doing more...

  • B2B Buying Guide 2022: The Impact of ESG on the B2B Buying Process

    April 6, 2022

    Purpose is Profit for B2B Companies Not long ago, most companies considered maximising profits as their principal purpose. Today, purpose has a higher meaning, and a company’s response to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues is an increasingly important measure of its success. Employees, investors, and consumers are choosing to work with, invest in and buy from companies based on their responses to issues like racial and economic injustice, global conflicts and the climate crisis...