{"id":12952,"date":"2023-06-15T15:11:29","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T15:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/?p=12952"},"modified":"2023-06-15T15:11:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T15:11:30","slug":"guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post – Driving Sustainability: Empowering the Board of Directors on ESG"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

By: Anuj Saush, ESG Center Leader, The Conference Board<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The answer to the question of whether the board of directors have a critical role to play in a company\u2019s ESG success is a resounding \u201cYes.\u201d Now, companies must determine how to best use the board\u2019s decision-making, oversight, and advisory capacity to build a more sustainable organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not a straightforward path – for instance, hiring directors who specialise in sustainability can be counterproductive if the rest of the board defers to them too much. Rather, directors should have a clear understanding of their various roles related to ESG and deep knowledge about their industry, as that combination unlocks effective oversight and advancement of ESG-related risks and opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incorporating ESG and stakeholder perspectives into existing board processes involves mapping the board\u2019s current roles and responsibilities by taking inventory of the board\u2019s current approach to and knowledge of ESG issues and stakeholder views. Once that inventory has been taken board responsibilities can be allocated among several board committees to avoid overburdening a single committee. Either the Board as a whole or a board committee should oversee coordination of the board\u2019s ESG engagement, ensuring corporate governance documents are up to date and handling committee rotation and committee chair succession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Management should also set reasonable expectations around board members\u2019 understanding of and fluency on ESG topics, as there are hundreds of areas of focus across all three categories. Board members cannot and should not be expected to have deep expertise in all of these areas. That said, the board should have a solid grasp of the depth and breadth of all internal and external ESG-related communications, as well as how management affirms that these communications are accurate and consistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A combination of direct board engagement and data are the best ways to keep the board informed about sustainable development. This engagement can be achieved through board discussions of the company\u2019s purpose, by integrating ESG into the company\u2019s overall strategy, and incorporating ESG topics into board level discussions of compliance and risk management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not a one and done. As the board\u2019s involvement in and support of the company\u2019s ESG agenda progresses, it\u2019s crucial that the approach is not a series of distinct single actions but rather, a fluid and continuous process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boards of directors already play a vital role in developing a company\u2019s purpose, which gives meaning to the company\u2019s existence. In turn, the ESG agenda ensures the company\u2019s sustainability. Beyond building culture, boosting strategy, and raising value, ESG safeguards a company from various risks. When boards support management in efforts to make ESG a priority, it signals to employees, customers, and other stakeholders that the company\u2019s purpose extends beyond profit and includes all stakeholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anuj Saush<\/strong> is the Center Leader, ESG Center, Europe at The Conference Board.<\/em><\/p><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Anuj Saush, ESG Center Leader, The Conference Board The answer to the question of whether the board of directors have a critical role to play in a company\u2019s ESG success is a resounding \u201cYes.\u201d Now, companies must determine how to best use the board\u2019s decision-making, oversight, and advisory capacity to build a more sustainable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,33],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGuest Post - Driving Sustainability: Empowering the Board of Directors on ESG - ESG Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guest Post - Driving Sustainability: Empowering the Board of Directors on ESG - ESG Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Anuj Saush, ESG Center Leader, The Conference Board The answer to the question of whether the board of directors have a critical role to play in a company\u2019s ESG success is a resounding \u201cYes.\u201d Now, companies must determine how to best use the board\u2019s decision-making, oversight, and advisory capacity to build a more sustainable […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ESG Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ESGToday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-15T15:11:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-15T15:11:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Conf-Board-Saush.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"807\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"692\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Segal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EsgToday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EsgToday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Segal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Segal\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cca7a2b05e3a06d096e5740fb1433a01\"},\"headline\":\"Guest Post – Driving Sustainability: Empowering the Board of Directors on ESG\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-15T15:11:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-15T15:11:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/\"},\"wordCount\":492,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Governance\",\"Guest Posts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/\",\"name\":\"Guest Post - Driving Sustainability: Empowering the Board of Directors on ESG - ESG Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-15T15:11:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-15T15:11:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Guest Post – Driving Sustainability: Empowering the Board of Directors on ESG\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/\",\"name\":\"ESG Today\",\"description\":\"ESG investing news, analysis, research and information\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"ESG Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ESG-Today-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ESG-Today-Logo.png\",\"width\":618,\"height\":350,\"caption\":\"ESG Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ESGToday\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EsgToday\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/esg-today\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cca7a2b05e3a06d096e5740fb1433a01\",\"name\":\"Mark Segal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68fbfd7923e36d210feb00a7621096af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68fbfd7923e36d210feb00a7621096af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Segal\"},\"description\":\"Mark founded ESG Today following a 20 year career in investment management and research. Prior to founding ESG Today, Mark worked at Delaney Capital Management (DCM) in Toronto, Canada, most recently as the firm\u2019s head of U.S. equities. While at DCM, Mark was part of the firm\u2019s ESG team, responsible for evaluating and tracking the sustainability factors impacting portfolio companies, and assessing the suitability of companies for portfolio inclusion. Mark also spent several years in the sell-side research industry, covering the technology and services sectors. Mark holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York, a BBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, and is a CFA charterholder.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/author\/mo-segal9\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Guest Post - Driving Sustainability: Empowering the Board of Directors on ESG - ESG Today","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Guest Post - Driving Sustainability: Empowering the Board of Directors on ESG - ESG Today","og_description":"By: Anuj Saush, ESG Center Leader, The Conference Board The answer to the question of whether the board of directors have a critical role to play in a company\u2019s ESG success is a resounding \u201cYes.\u201d Now, companies must determine how to best use the board\u2019s decision-making, oversight, and advisory capacity to build a more sustainable […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/","og_site_name":"ESG Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ESGToday\/","article_published_time":"2023-06-15T15:11:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-15T15:11:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":807,"height":692,"url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Conf-Board-Saush.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mark Segal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EsgToday","twitter_site":"@EsgToday","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Segal","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/"},"author":{"name":"Mark Segal","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cca7a2b05e3a06d096e5740fb1433a01"},"headline":"Guest Post – Driving Sustainability: Empowering the Board of Directors on ESG","datePublished":"2023-06-15T15:11:29+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-15T15:11:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/"},"wordCount":492,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Governance","Guest Posts"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/","name":"Guest Post - Driving Sustainability: Empowering the Board of Directors on ESG - ESG Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-06-15T15:11:29+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-15T15:11:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/guest-post-driving-sustainability-empowering-the-board-of-directors-on-esg\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Guest Post – Driving Sustainability: Empowering the Board of Directors on ESG"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/","name":"ESG Today","description":"ESG investing news, analysis, research and information","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization","name":"ESG Today","url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ESG-Today-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ESG-Today-Logo.png","width":618,"height":350,"caption":"ESG Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ESGToday\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/EsgToday","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/esg-today\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cca7a2b05e3a06d096e5740fb1433a01","name":"Mark Segal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68fbfd7923e36d210feb00a7621096af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68fbfd7923e36d210feb00a7621096af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Segal"},"description":"Mark founded ESG Today following a 20 year career in investment management and research. Prior to founding ESG Today, Mark worked at Delaney Capital Management (DCM) in Toronto, Canada, most recently as the firm\u2019s head of U.S. equities. While at DCM, Mark was part of the firm\u2019s ESG team, responsible for evaluating and tracking the sustainability factors impacting portfolio companies, and assessing the suitability of companies for portfolio inclusion. Mark also spent several years in the sell-side research industry, covering the technology and services sectors. Mark holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York, a BBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, and is a CFA charterholder.","url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/author\/mo-segal9\/"}]}},"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12952"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}