Be Good & Tell It: The Status Quo of ESG Equity Stories

As investors increasingly integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in their decision making processes, companies need to cater to this information need. Developing and transmitting a clear ESG Equity Story is key in this: communicating about the firm’s ESG approach and performance in a coherent and transparent manner toward investor audiences. Finch & Beak has assembled a pilot benchmark as a probe for the current status quo, assessing 21 companies’ sustainability programs (‘Be Good’) and their ESG Equity Stories (‘Tell It’). A striking finding is that companies appear to engage in ESG ‘greywashing’ (antonym of greenwashing), by underleveraging their ESG performance in the communication towards investor audiences.

ESG Acceleration Webinar: Using DJSI to Accelerate ESG Performance

With the Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2020 results as a fresh starting point, in this session we'll dive into the details of how to use the Corporate Sustainability Assessment as a driver to accelerate ESG performance in your organization. Very practical guidance is coming from guest speaker Marc Boissonnet, Executive Vice President Corporate & External Affairs at Bureau Veritas. He will tell more about how his company achieved the status of DJSI Industry Leader for the global Professional Services industry in 2020 following a dedicated improvement journey throughout the organization.

Second Instalment of the ESG Acceleration Webinar Series

Join us for the second instalment of Finch & Beak's ESG Acceleration Webinar series, aimed at speeding up sustainability performance and building resilience in the decade to deliver - especially during these challenging times. In December, we'll share more practical insights on effective ESG Equity Stories, using DJSI to accelerate performance and #BuildBackBetter to take your sustainability program to the next level.

The 2020 Global Dow Jones Sustainability Index Results

After a prolonged submission period for the Corporate Sustainability Assessment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, last Friday S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) review. Arkema, Storebrand, Essity and Wendel Group are among the newcomers in this year’s DJSI Indices, while Alphabet Inc, Bank of America and UPS are among those who dropped out. As our summarizing infographic illustrates, this year the percentage of participating companies increased by an astonishing 19% compared to 2019.

Job Alert: Business Consultant

Finch & Beak is een toonaangevend Europees adviesbureau op het gebied van strategie en duurzaamheid. In de afgelopen 20 jaar hebben we met meer dan 150 zakelijke klanten in heel Europa gewerkt, ruim 5000 managers getraind, en samengewerkt met business schools van topniveau over de hele wereld. Om onze snelgroeiende klantenportefeuille te helpen bij het versnellen van hun duurzaamheidsprestaties, zijn we voor ons team in Rotterdam op zoek naar een Business Consultant.

Job Alert: Business Consultant

Finch & Beak is a leading European consulting firm in the field of strategy and sustainability. Over the past 20 years, we have worked with more than 150 corporate clients across Europe, trained over 5000 managers, and worked with top-level business schools from around the world. To help our fast-growing client portfolio accelerate its sustainability performance, we are expanding our Rotterdam team and are looking for a Business Consultant.

Carlsberg: Partnering for Progress

As epitomized by Sustainable Development Goal 17, Partnerships for the Goals, today’s major sustainability challenges require tailored and collaborative solutions. This means that partnering is to become a part of the company DNA. By forging and maintaining partnerships, companies can achieve more sustainability impact while also gaining the competitive advantage they seek. Several sustainability leaders such as Novozymes, DSM and Umicore have made partnering centric to their sustainability program. In this article, the example of Carlsberg illustrates how this can lead to tangible results.

ESG Acceleration: How to Get More from Materiality

Last year’s results of the global risk report of the World Economic Forum revealed that the biggest risks are all environmentally oriented followed by technological risks such as data fraud. A risk that was not as prevalent was infectious diseases and we are all well-aware of how this has changed in has impacted society and business. With the recent developments around COVID-19, businesses are challenged to be even more agile and forward looking in order to cope with today’s fast-changing environment.

Impact Measurement & Valuation

Impact valuation is a systematic way of measuring the impact of the core activities of a company, to manage risks, optimise costs and seize opportunities, and goes beyond the customary reporting and informing. Finch & Beak has co-developed a framework for impact measurement that can serve as a tool to embed sustainability into vital business activities.

Updating Your Materiality Matrix Post Covid-19

As the world is in various stages of recovery from the impact of the corona virus, it becomes clear that while there is a ‘new normal’, companies are aiming to go back to business-as-usual as soon as possible. How does Covid-19 affect your company’s sustainability strategy and how should this be reflected in your materiality matrix? Should you discard your old matrix and rebuild from scratch? Should pandemics be featured in it? As is almost always the case in complex situations, the answer is: it depends.