ESG Global, day two: is green the new black?

When the Titanic sank, there was an understanding; women and children first. There was no written rule; no document passengers signed when they got on board the Titanic in the first place that said, “in the event, the ship sinks, and it turns out there aren’t enough lifeboats, then women and children must get off first.” Instead, it was just understood.

Part of the issue, suggested Lisa Beth Lentini Walker of Lumen Worldwide is that there is “so much innovation that the rules can’t keep up.”

That’s why there needs to be this deeper understanding; just because the rules don’t forbid this or insist upon that, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

Lisa Beth also talked about “trust by design.”

In the same seminar chaired by Bojana Bellamy from Hunton & Williams LLP, the question of “ethics by design” was discussed too, and an interesting question was posed: “Will we one day have a Chief Trust Officer?”

Green or Greenwashing

Meanwhile, in another seminar, Samrah Kazmi from RESRG said that “green is the new black.” She added: “Greenwashing is the new climate denial.” And she warned about deliberate misrepresentation — when an organisation presents this nice warm and cuddly image with some bold initiative only to find that the initiative isn’t quite what you think it is.

So how do we spot greenwashing? She said there are red flags, one of which is to look in the company report and examine whether ESG activities come under PR.

In another seminar, starring Jim Kenyon of RepRisk, Aurora Sharrard from the University of Pittsburgh, Jaymin Desai, Director of Strategy at OneTrust and Pratik Raval of Tata Consultancy Services, the panel looked beyond climate metrics.“We need to help everyone connect the conventional metrics of ESG with climate, said Pratik Raval.

ESG is a matter of survival 

In an earlier seminar, Sibylle Barden of Barden Publishing made the bold assertion that “companies that do not align with ESG won’t be here in five years.” She added: “Doing good and helping the planet is a trillion-dollar industry.” In the same seminar, Rob Polito of Intelex talked about materiality — giving you the perspective to align your views with your peers.

It was at this seminar, also attended by Charles Joly of the London School of Economics, Corina Shika Kwami of Purpose and chaired by Inder Poonaji of Modulaire Group, where the concept of the three Cs and three As, were discussed — that’s communication, communication and communication and audience, audience and audience.

In other words, communicating to your audience matters, rather lot. (presumably, three times over.)

Earlier in the day, Mark Hendry of DWF Law and Alessia Falsarone of PineBridge Investments discussed ESG and cybersecurity. The thorny issue of data centres and carbon footprints was discussed in the seminar.

Finally, the day’s event saw Tanya Popeau of Synthesis discuss innovation and sustainability.