Investors, Firms and ESG

Organisers:

Prof. Colin Mayer CBE, Peter Moores Professor of Management Studies at Saïd Business School (SBS), University of Oxford and ECGI; Prof. Edward Rock, Martin Lipton Professor of Law and Director, Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance at NYU Law School and ECGI; Prof. John Armour, Oxford Law Faculty and ECGI; Prof. Robert Eccles, Visiting Professor of Management Practice and Dr Judith Stroehle, Postdoctoral Fellow at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

About the Event:

The role of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) considerations in the management of public companies and the investment priorities of asset managers has become a first order question in corporate governance across the developed world. In his much discussed 2018 Letter to CEOs, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink focused on it explicitly: 'Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.' With this, a new agenda and a new generation of conversations and questions around ESG were launched: What are investors looking for from firms and from funds? What are boards and companies hearing? And what is the legal context of ESG and fiduciary duty? In this conference, both investor and firm perspectives were discussed in addressing these questions in the UK context.

Supported By:

This event was co-sponsored by the NYU Law School, the British Academy's Future of the Corporation Program and the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), and brought together thought-leaders in business, finance and policy for the creation of impactful policy proposals. Please find more information on the event website.