Listen in as Cooley partner Beth Sasfai, who leads Cooley's ESG advisory practice, discusses her experience in the environmental, social and governance space, as well as forward-looking trends for 2023, with public companies practice co-chair Jason Kent.
Key takeaways
- Public companies need to be focused on regulatory actions coming down the pipeline in 2023, including the much-anticipated Securities and Exchange Commission climate rules, in addition to cybersecurity, board diversity and human capital rules. Even more extensive rulemakings are happening in the European Union, which are likely to result in additional ESG disclosure obligations for companies in their supply chains, whether or not they are directly covered by the rules.
- Boards and companies need to give thought to their engagement programs and public statements as shareholder engagement and media campaigns related to ESG continue to ramp up.
- Public companies should expect increased enforcement activity at the SEC and Federal Trade Commission, as well as class action lawsuits, focused on the use of specific ESG-related words and claims of "greenwashing."
- Private companies can benefit from early thinking about their ESG strategy, as their customers, employees and investors are demanding more and more transparency surrounding ESG, including with codes of conduct, supply chains and emissions. Employees are also increasingly expecting companies to speak up about their commitment to certain values.
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