London partners Edward Tran, Financial Markets and Funds, and Oliver Williams, Corporate, were featured on the Global Relay Intelligence & Practice (Grip) podcast in a discussion about the exponential growth of environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives in the corporate world.
The two addressed how ESG is gaining relevance in mergers and acquisitions, investor pressures, concerns about greenwashing in disclosures, and the impact data is having in this space.
In discussing regulation, Oliver said he expects ESG regulation to evolve based on organization size. "You can see how ESG-type reporting and disclosures may evolve in the way of, let's say, some corporate governance codes have evolved," he said. "They began with a set of principles, and they evolved over time, and now they are relatively standardized, and I can see that happening."
And as these ESG initiatives evolve, both Ed and Oliver expect there may come a time when the ESG acronym splits. Given the attention and science behind environmental issues, Ed said, "You could easily see there being a broader consensus around the environmental reporting issues and regulatory issues at an earlier stage. In contrast, I think for social issues and governance issues, those tend to be a bit more geographically specific … and are perhaps at an earlier stage of their development."
"Podcast: Katten partners Edward Tran and Oliver Williams on ESG reporting and M&A," Grip podcast, July 17, 2023
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