ESG: Comparative Perspectives, New Controversies, and New Voices
A conference on ESG
In memory of Millstein Center Founder and
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Senior Partner
Ira M. Millstein (1926 - 2024)
This was a hybrid event.
Location:
William and June Warren Hall, Room L107, 1125 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY, 10027
Over a few short years, “ESG” has gone from a good-governance nostrum to a hotly contested element of the US political landscape. This conference brought together insights from the legal academy, the practitioner community, the regulators, and the various institutions involved in shareholder voting, will offer a unique perspective on current ESG questions.
First: the US and EU have gone down quite different ESG paths. How so and why so? Second: the SEC’s “final” climate change disclosure rule is now under attack from various sides. What is the state of play? And irrespective of a litigation outcome, how will companies, especially multinationals, accommodate the diverse disclosure requirements of California, the SEC, the EU, and international standard setters like the ISSB? Third: in response to client and political pressures, asset managers have been working out systems of “pass-through voting” on various ESG-inflected proposals. How will these systems work and will they function as a meaningful channel for shareholder preferences?
The conference featured introductory remarks by Jim Millstein (Co-Chairman, Guggenheim Securities, LLC) and a conversation with Erik Gerding (Director, Division of Corporation Finance, US Securities and Exchange Commission), moderated by Eric Talley (Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership, Columbia Law School).
For inquiries, contact, Susanne Ridley at Columbia University (sr4030@columbia.edu)
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Co-sponsored by Columbia Law School’s Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in collaboration with Broadridge and communications partner ECGI.
Programme
Registration and Breakfast
Welcome Remarks
ESG Legislation and Regulation: E.U. vs. U.S.
Moderator
Speaker(s)
Break
Conversation with Erik Gerding
Moderator
Speaker(s)
Break
Lunch Session: ESG Landscape and Recent Developments in the U.S.
Moderator
Speaker(s)
Break
Pass-Through Voting and ESG
Moderator
Speaker(s)
Reception
Speakers
Jeffrey Gordon
Presentations
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Lunch Session: ESG Landscape and Recent Developments in the U.S.
Michael Gerrard
Lyuba Goltser
Chad SpitlerAnd more (...)
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Pass-Through Voting and ESG
Danielle Gurrieri
Elizabeth Kantrowitz
Jonathon ZytnickAnd more (...)
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Conversation with Erik Gerding
Erik Gerding
Sponsored by:
In Memoriam
As the Founding Chair of The Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School and an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School and Columbia Business School, Mr. Millstein’s dedication to Columbia University and academia generally was unwavering. In addition to his roles at Columbia University, he was also formerly the Senior Associate Dean for Corporate Governance and the Theodore Nierenberg Adjunct Professor of Corporate Governance at the Yale School of Management; Adjunct Professor at New York University School of Law; and Fellow of the Faculty of Government at Harvard University's J.F.K. School of Government.
