Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) has gained increasing attention over the past few years. Today many institutional investors will only invest in those companies that provide ESG performance reporting. ESG provides a set of standards for a company’s operations that today’s socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments in terms of how a company treats the environment, manages social issues (relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and the communities where it operates), and deals with governance issues.

This course has a three-fold focus:

1. Provide the participant with an understanding of ESG. Here we look at what ESG is, its evolution and why it matters. We illustrate this, using examples of three ESG incidents (the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; the Volkswagen emissions scandal and the Facebook – Cambridge Analytica debacle).
2. Show how an ESG framework supports a company’s overall risk management strategy/structure. Here we explore issues like:
   • Key ESG factors
   • Sustainable Investing
   • Corporate Pressure
   • Stakeholder Expectations
   • ESG Risks and Opportunities
   • Unique Risks in Corporate Supply Chains
   • ESG Investing Trends, and
   • Information Needs and Sources.
3. Provide the hands-on knowledge you need to conduct more effective ESG due diligence, and to make better investment decisions. Here we present a step-by-step guide on the actions you need to take to ensure that your company becomes ESG compliant. We conclude by examining some current ESG myths.

ESG is an increasingly popular way for investors to evaluate companies in which they might want to invest. On the flipside, ESG can also help investors avoid companies that could pose a greater financial risk due to below par environmental or other practices.

ESG is relevant to analysts and investors, consumers and employees, and has become a major topic of discussion at Board meetings.

Course Key Concepts: Climate change, Diversity, Employee relations, ESG, ESG risks, Green Bonds, Governance, Human rights, Impact investment, Investment, Materiality analysis, Responsible investment, Social impact, Sustainable investing, Sustainability.