Elizabeth Southey’s Post

We are often asked what the value of #ESG is. There are other surveys and studys setting out increased #investor #financial pressure. The 2023 Edelman Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report highlights that 63% of consumers and employees will buy or advocate for brands based on their beliefs and values. 69% state that when considering a job a business must have societal impactchrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://lnkd.in/erZ4bAmE If your organisation wants to #benchmark its #esg performance get in touch Ardea International working with #business to identify gaps and set recommendations for improvement. We also have a new #bitesize #esg #e-learning launching in the new year! #sustainability #employees #consumers #bizhumanrights #trust #diversity

As companies in the Asia Pacific region gradually become aware of ESG-related issues, KPMG member firms have developed numerous solutions to assist our clients in their transitions towards a more sustainable future. Thanks to the KPMG ASPAC ESG core team, we have precious opportunities to share our tools and experiences across the global network. During this month’s meeting, KaiJou Chang and I made a presentation on behalf of our team to introduce how we help leading firms develop thorough impact strategies with FutureScape. In the past, companies often responded to social issues with scattered charitable initiatives. However, as some of these issues begin to influence their business operations (for example, as their customer base ages or experiences a lack of young employees due to a low birth rate), more comprehensive responses are needed. With our service, we aim to assist our clients in generating new ideas to incorporate ESG into their product designs, client relationship management, talent nurturing, or daily operations, by gaining an in-depth understanding of how social issues might pose a threat to or create new opportunities for both their business and society as a whole. Thank you to Niven Huang and Jeff Hou for guiding and supporting the team as always. Thank you to Christopher Wong, MBA, Fuyuki Kawasaki, and Tszchun, Martin Ho for organizing these sharings! Appreciate these occasions where we can glimpse into how other member firms across the globe are responding to similar challenges. 🤩 #ESG #Impact #ScnerioPlanning

An update on what I’m up to. I’m very grateful to everyone who has given me advice, encouragement, time, and contacts on my journey to what’s next. Two things I’ve noticed: 1. Businesses are still looking to do good. Despite all of the legitimate critiques of ESG, purpose-washing, and CSR before that, corporates still recognise the world needs fixing and want to play their part. I’m finding that with my previous work with for-purpose organisations and corporates, plus experience of the world and how it’s changing, is yielding useful conversations and can potentially help some find that sweet spot. 2. Reflecting during Ramadan, I also have strong views on things that are missing from what would make the world better. Issues that are underserved, causes that are not getting their strategy quite right, and movements that are not persuading people like they should be. I’m working on some proposals and looking for funding. All this amounts to what my friend Adam Marshall CBE introduced me to as the “plural world”. I’m hoping to be working on a number of exec and non-exec things. Maybe a bit of thinking and writing. Most crucially on all of this, I’ve got a few collaborations with some cool and talented people in the works. Please keep the conversations and ideas coming. I’m looking to be useful.

Through engagement, voting and advocacy we drive positive change. Portfolio Manager Rosl Veltmeijer and Head of Research Henk Jonker explain how we do this and what we achieve. "To set them in motion for change, it is essential to interact with the companies we invest in. Engagement begins from the moment we consider investing in a company. Dialogue and transparency are so crucial that companies unwilling to engage are not even considered for investment." Read the interview on our website. #ImpactInvesting #PositiveImpact #CompanyEngagement #ESG #Stewardship

"All investments have an impact" - Read the 2nd part of Rita Sebestyen, PhD 's interview with Lisa Hayles for our 'ESG-talks' series. Lisa, Director of International Stakeholder Advocacy at Trillium Asset Management, gives some 'big picture' insights into engagement and advocacy from an investor perspective and highlights some of the challenges and rewards of her role. Read it now: https://lnkd.in/epR9EyhB #responsibleinvestment #ESG ESG-talks is a series of interviews with ESG professionals with diverse educational and professional backgrounds, whom we regard as role models. This series aims to encourage participation in the ESG and responsible investment (RI) space, to attract talent from different sectors and industries, and to widen the conversation. 

A few observations stood out from the sessions and informal chats at PEI's Responsible Investment Forum in London last week, where Apiday was proud to be a sponsor. The event saw some great conversations with the ESG and sustainability leads at the major PE shops across both Europe and much of the US. The conversations also speak to the size of some of the challenges faced by private capital (many shared by enterprises more generally) as they seek to deepen understanding and drive performance across ESG topics in their portfolio - which are so central to risk mitigation and value creation. Some of these observations were 🧐 : 1. ESG reporting still too often chooses to ask questions because the data is easy to gather, rather than ask the questions that more deeply interrogate issues that can identify inherent risks or create value  2. The DD challenge is enormous and largely unsolved (especially from a tech perspective). Fake, AI-generated policies, timesheets, waste manifests among others make it harder to catch issues in potential investments and their supply chains (its own beast), with a lot of the burden falling on under-resourced ESG teams to identify them pre-investment  3. There remains a lot of confusion still around CSRD and practically how complying with it will look (for funds themselves and their investments) 4. To anonymously quote one regular attendee of both the US and Europe events - "this is one of the [few] areas where the conversations on this side of the Atlantic are 5 years ahead of the other" 😁 5. It was also great hearing real world success stories - how a specific portfolio company's 10 year decarbonisation effort paid for itself after gas price spikes, to the amount of PE firms with tangible initiatives across their portfolio There was a lot of energy and excitement about how the space will evolve, and how innovative tech solutions can contribute to some of these challenges. It is core to our vision at Apiday and a journey we look forward to actively shaping in the coming years alongside our private equity clients 🌿 #ESG #ResponsibleInvesting #PrivateEquity #SustainabilityLeadership

Thank you Rita Sebestyen, PhD and EIRIS Foundation for a great conversation about one of my favorite topics! Bit of a stream of consciouness interview but hopefully you can get the gist of my point. All investments have an impact - on employees, suppliers, customers, the local community, etc. So whether you describe yourself as an ‘impact investor’ or not, your investments do have an impact, both positive and negative. I believe that we must use our voice as shareholders to advocate for consideration and action(!) by our portfolio companies on systemic risks - climate change, economic inequality, racial and gender inequity, etc. None of us can do everything, but each of us can do something to contribute to a more sustainable and just world. End of my naive rant😀. #sustainableinvesting #impactinvesting #ESG

I was thrilled to share the stage with some top #ESG communicators at P World's Global PR Summit Canada 8 (#GPRSCAN8). As always, bringing a #governmentrelations and #businesspurpose lens to these conversations is fascinating - especially as the regulation and accountability for ESG reporting and greenwashing make their way into politics and legislatures. 🟢 Did you know that the recent Fall Economic Statement includes provisions to regulate against greenwashing? ⚖ Did you know there are bills across US legislatures and here in Canada attempting to restrict the use of ESG reporting and data in pension decisions? Some of the key points from the conversation: 📢 If you don't tell your Purpose or ESG story, others won't do it for you. 💞 ESG and Purpose are important because businesses aren't independent of society. They're integral to it. Showing how your company intersects and supports society is a key part of maintaining credibility and relevancy with consumers and other stakeholders. ⁉ You can't please all the people all the time. Know what issues you care about and what stakeholders matter to you. Those should be your top priorities - and if everything is a priority nothing is. A big thanks to the others on the panel, Mohammed Emrul Hasan, ESG-P from CARE, Annemarie Gerber from Maple Leaf Foods, Andrea Vandenberg from EY, and Michael Oliveira from Tim Hortons for bringing such important and relevant insights. And thanks to the audience for some great questions and challenging us!

Through engagement, voting and advocacy we drive positive change. Portfolio Manager Rosl Veltmeijer-Smits and Head of Research Henk Jonker explain how we do this and what we achieve. "To set them in motion for change, it is essential to interact with the companies we invest in. Engagement begins from the moment we consider investing in a company. Dialogue and transparency are so crucial that companies unwilling to engage are not even considered for investment." Read the interview on our website. #ImpactInvesting #PositiveImpact #CompanyEngagement #ESG #Stewardship

FRIDAY TIP: Sustainability, corporate responsibility, business purpose, corporate statesmanship, social responsibility...ESG ; whatever you want to call it , these are issues that affect small and large organisations alike (to scale of course). These are topics that have to on the boardroom agenda at lest every other meeting. The butterfly affect applies, so no one action or strategy can be called too small or insignificant. What is your board doing in this space? #ESG #competentboards #directorleadership #knowledgeatwork https://lnkd.in/gk6jVw-n