This document offers a brief review of the content from the 2012 and 2013 Environmental, Social and Governance (ES&G) Forums that informed the topics and speakers for CBSR’s September 23, 2014 ES&G Forum. Last year, a post-forum report was prepared to provide a summary of the discussions and to suggest opportunities for further research. The report can be accessed on www.cbsr.ca and our SlideShare account.

1. ES&G Forum 2014
Pre-Forum Brief
PRESENTED BY:

2. This document offers a brief review of the
content from the 2012 and 2013 Environmental,
Social and Governance (ES&G) Forums that
informed the topics and speakers for CBSR’s
September 23, 2014 ES&G Forum. Last year,
a post-forum report was prepared to provide
a summary of the discussions and to suggest
opportunities for further research. The report
is available on CBSR’s website (see footnote).
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Evolution of ES&G 2
Voluntary vs. Legislated ES&G Reporting Trends 2
Learnings from Past ES&G Forums (2012, 2013) 3
What to Expect at This Year’s Forum 3
The 2014 Forum Topics 4
1 Direct Link to 2013 Forum Report: http://www.cbsr.ca/sites/default/files/file/CBSR%20ES&G%20Post-Forum%20Document.pdf
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3. 2 CCGG website: http://www.ccgg.ca/
3 ESG Issues in Institutional Investor Decision Making, The Canadian Performance Reporting Board (CPRB) of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
(CICA) (2010): http://www.cica.ca/publications/list-of-publications/manual/item41881.pdf
4 United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment: http://www.unpri.org/
EVOLUTION OF ES&G
Responsible investment guidelines began in Canada
with the formation of the Canadian Coalition for Good
Governance (CCGG) in 20082 with a mandate to promote
good governance practices in Canadian companies.
Institutional investors were early adopters of integrating
ES&G considerations into their investment decision-making3.
Around the same time, initiatives such as the
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) headquartered in the
United Kingdom began to publish corporations’ annual
carbon emission amounts.
The evolution gained momentum when the United Nations
penned the Principles for Responsible Investment in 2010.
Jane Ambachtsheer, Global Head of Responsible Investment
at Mercer Investments in Toronto, spoke in Calgary at CBSR’s
first ES&G Forum in 2012. She shared her knowledge and
experience of working on the development of the United
Nations Principles for Responsible Investment4 – which now
have more than 1,200 signatories globally. The six principles
are voluntary, aspirational and are intended to positively
affect investment portfolio performance and align investors
with the “broader objectives of society”. Companies that are
signing to abide by the PRI are investment managers, asset
owners (e.g., investment funds), and professional service
partners. Most recently, stock exchanges are increasingly
requiring their listed companies to publish reports on their
business operations according to environmental, social and
governance matters.
Led by the intellectually stimulating and pointed ES&G
expert Dr. Matthew Kiernan, the 2013 Forum engaged
stakeholders who are using ES&G, people who understand
ES&G, and people who wanted to understand more about
the topic and consider what it means for their own work.
Investment managers, business representatives from a
range of industries, particularly the energy sector, evaluation
organizations, and academics attended the Forum. To
encourage investor relations professionals’ participation this
year (2014), CBSR is partnering with the Canadian Investor
Relations Institute (CIRI) to invite its members to join us
in sharing new knowledge, thoughts, and suggestions on
managing and leveraging non-financial performance results.
VOLUNTARY VS. LEGISLATED
ES&G REPORTING TRENDS
Government legislated disclosure efforts have been
established in approximately 30 countries worldwide. In
Canada, CSA helps companies manage and measure their
GHG emissions. The Canadian Environmental Protection Act
requires companies to report specific pollutant emissions.
The Bank Act requires financial institutions to publish annual
statements describing their contributions to the Canadian
economy and society. A significant number of European
countries have led the way, as have Asian countries,
including China, India, Japan, and Malaysia. The USA has
also implemented acts and rules such as the Greenhouse
Gas Reporting Program under the EPA, Sarbanes Oxley Act,
Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act).
Each country’s rules and regulations differ – for example,
in India and the UK, CSR and ES&G must be included in
companies’ annual Management Discussion & Analysis
(MD&A) sections in annual reports.
Stock exchanges in at least 19 countries have established
policies, reporting criteria, and/or specific indices to monitor
the ES&G-relevant practices of companies listed on their
exchanges. In addition, there are independent bodies
such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
(SASB) in the USA that have been established to develop
and disseminate sustainability accounting standards in
publicly traded companies. The impact of such efforts is
still in question; however, they do indicate a trend toward
legislation and mandates.
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4. LEARNINGS FROM PAST
ES&G FORUMS (2012, 2013)
The pressure is mounting for Canadian investor relations
managers to disclose the impact of their management and
operations on the environment, society, and their business
governance practices. In response, CBSR’s 2012 and
2013 ES&G Forums in Calgary covered a lot of ground. We
heard from investors, financial analysts, ranking agencies,
investment funds, and companies about the benefits and
challenges of implementing ES&G protocols and review
processes. The Forum’s invited panelists were specifically
targeted to speak as they held diverse points of view
regarding the benefits of ES&G. The result was informative
presentations, interactive (speakers/audience) dialogues and
a 2013 post-forum document surmising that:
• Sustainability reporting is here to stay.
• There is considerable evidence of a positive relationship
among CSR reporting, business strategy, and
value creation.
• Engaged stakeholders help to identify companies’
material issues.
• Companies can’t please all stakeholders all of the time; it is
best to prioritize stakeholder relations/actions.
• Companies need to be transparent about all types of risk
and how to manage them.
• Companies should regard the perceived “burden of CSR” as
a real opportunity for continual improvement.
• ES&G education is needed, particularly for investors as well
as all stakeholders and company personnel.
• University-level students should learn the importance and
value of integrating ES&G with business strategy.
• Companies’ investor relations departments need to be
well informed of ES&G to effectively respond to their
stakeholders; particularly their investors and evaluation/
ranking agencies.
WHAT TO EXPECT AT THIS YEAR’S FORUM
Every question that was answered at the last Forum seemed
to stimulate yet more questions. The University of Calgary’s
graduate students who volunteered as note takers during
the Forum documented the following questions during
the afternoon’s interactive dialogue session. These were
shared in the post-event report and are repeated here to help
springboard this year’s discussions.
1 How will ES&G reporting continue to evolve to meet the
demands of the current and emerging markets?
2 Is standardization of disclosure and analysis a good
thing? Is it possible to standardize ES&G disclosures
along with other information deemed relevant to
decision makers?
3 Would standards to assess CSR performance enable
straightforward company benchmarking?
4 If companies incorporate the listed recommendations,
how will investment firms know that companies have
made the data and reports more credible if they do not
read the reports?
5 Who audits the evaluation agencies and how do we
ensure that the ratings are credible?
6 How can companies gain the most value from an
assurance engagement?
7 How can multi-national companies track information for
their reporting more efficiently?
8 Is integrated reporting the next step? How can companies
make the transition with as much benefit and as little
pain as possible?
9 Would government regulations for implementing
corporate management systems help reduce companies’
risks, increase accountability and environmental
performance, and consequently increase credibility?
10 How can investment firms recognize the positive
connection between ES&G and financial performance?
11 What do investment firms consider quality management?
12 Does external assurance increase the credibility of
sustainability reports in the eyes of investors?
This year (2014), the Forum’s speakers have been asked to
consider some of these questions and to help us understand
how ES&G trends and practices affect/influence Canadian
businesses and investors.
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5. THE 2014 FORUM TOPICS
Below is a brief overview of the Panels. For a full list of
Speakers and Panelists at the Forum, please refer to the event
profile on CBSR’s website (http://bit.ly/esgforum-2014).
To build from our past learnings, this year’s speakers include
representatives from organizations that have successfully
implemented ES&G systems for their customers, clients, and/
or members. Here’s a taste of who and what to expect at this
year’s Forum:
Case Study Presentation
McKinsey and the Canada Pension Plan Investment
Board (CPPIB) recently collaborated on an initiative that
investigated the value of long-term capital investment and
the implications of short-term investment. Jonathan Bailey,
Engagement Manager at McKinsey, will share the results.
ES&G Practitioners, Analysts & Raters Panel
You will hear from a panel of ES&G experts who research
and use ES&G guidelines for investment, evaluation, and
rating purposes. They will explain what they do, how they
do it, and share insights on the value (or not) of using
ES&G guidelines, including how using these guidelines has
changed the way businesses are managing their operations
and the way they report results. The ES&G Panel will be
asked questions such as – how and why are you using ES&G
as a guideline and/or assessment framework when reviewing
potential and current investments?
Investor Panel
This panel is being asked to explain how the trend of
including ES&G considerations and guidelines has changed
the way their organization operates and the tangible (fiscal)
difference (or lack thereof) this has had on their investment
strategies and organizational effectiveness. The Investor
Panel will be asked questions such as – what do investors
want/need to know about my business for them to invest?
Investor Relations Panel
The panel of Investor Relations experts (representing the
oil and gas, waste management, and engineering sectors in
Canada) will discuss their experiences of including (or not
including) the provision of information on their company’s
financial and non-financial tracking and reporting methods
using ES&G guidelines, i.e., tracking and reporting results to
their key investment analysts. This Panel provides valuable
insight as to whether or not ES&G is impacting how large
businesses manage their investor relations. The Investor
Relations Panel will be asked questions such as – how do
you (Investor Relations professionals) report non-financial
performance impacts in financial terms so that it is useful
to your investors?
To get the most out of attending this Forum, we encourage you to bring your own
questions to pose directly to the speakers or panelists or to discuss during the
audience dialogue session.
Tweet your views #ESGForum2014.
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6. 2014 PRESENTING SPONSOR & EVENT HOST
2014 LEADING SPONSOR
2014 SUPPORTING SPONSORS
2014 MEDIA SPONSORS & DESIGN CONTRIBUTORS
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