London, 25 March 2021 – According to a poll by ICSA: The Chartered Governance Institute and governance recruitment specialist The Core Partnership, 73% of companies think that there should be more transparent reporting and disclosures about environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. Just 16% of organisations polled are against this and an additional 11% are unsure.
Peter Swabey, Policy and Research Director at the Institute says:
“ESG has been driven higher up the boardroom agenda by the circumstances of the last year and many organisations are now focusing on environmental, social and governance issues. Just over half (56%) of companies have a separate department for ESG, while responsibility for ESG falls to the company secretarial function at a further 34%. In addition, almost a third (30%) of the organisations polled have an ESG Committee. However, some respondents still feel that ESG is not high enough on the board’s agenda and that it is seen as a stand-alone issue rather than linked to the company’s strategy and objectives.
“Where governance professionals are leading on ESG, the majority (52%) have not encountered challenges introducing ESG reporting to the board, although 18% have. The main challenges seem to relate to being able to pull together all of the strands that correlate to ESG to get a clear, central view of ESG across an organisation. It is difficult to get detailed, trackable measures to report against.”
The results of this poll also show that there is an appetite for bonuses to be linked to ESG-related metrics with many respondents answering yes when questioned about this. One respondent said: ‘Yes. Everyone should be informed of the impact of their decisions and how they affect various stakeholders and the external environment, and they should seek out opportunities to be more sustainable in financial, environmental and in people terms.’ As another pointed out, ‘History has repeatedly demonstrated that where metrics are lined to executive remuneration, progress on those metrics is made much faster and can also be of a much better quality’.
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For further information, please contact Maria Brookes, Media Relations Manager:
mbrookes@icsa.org.uk
+44 (0)20 7612 7072
+44 (0)7890 649 143
Notes to Editors:
- The Chartered Governance Institute is the qualifying and membership body for governance with over 125 years’ experience of educating and supporting governance professionals. With a Royal Charter purpose of leading ‘effective and efficient governance and administration of commerce, industry and public affairs’, we provide professional development, guidance and thought leadership, and work with regulators and policy makers to champion high standards.
The Institute has divisions in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong/China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Southern Africa, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe. The division headquartered in London (known as ICSA: The Chartered Governance Institute) represents and supports members in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Crown Dependencies and associated territories, which include the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. Website: www.icsa.org.uk - The Core Partnership is a niche market recruitment consultancy working with Company Secretaries and their teams to advise on and resource their specialist interim and permanent manpower needs. With relevant professional backgrounds spanning back to the 1990s, The Core Partnership has a wealth of knowledge of the development and dimensions of the role of the Company Secretary. The team provides market advice on relevant qualifications and experience, conducts salary and benchmarking exercises and works throughout the UK and overseas recruiting at all levels to this specific discipline.
Website: www.core-partnership.co.uk - This poll is based on answers from 122 respondents across a variety of sectors, principally finance, commerce and industry.
