Many Boards Are Playing Catch-Up on ESG and Green Issues
Kanebridge News
    HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $1,638,545 (+0.82%)       Melbourne $1,023,679 (+1.75%)       Brisbane $1,038,818 (+0.18%)       Adelaide $951,068 (+0.69%)       Perth $923,390 (-0.21%)       Hobart $759,192 (-0.42%)       Darwin $769,355 (-0.10%)       Canberra $964,485 (-0.83%)       National $1,074,245 (+0.50%)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $777,604 (+1.00%)       Melbourne $478,404 (+0.18%)       Brisbane $668,589 (+0.89%)       Adelaide $498,047 (-0.58%)       Perth $519,492 (+1.90%)       Hobart $528,197 (-0.03%)       Darwin $378,865 (-1.17%)       Canberra $494,950 (+0.08%)       National $567,655 (+0.60%)                HOUSES FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 11,855 (+190)       Melbourne 14,114 (-991)       Brisbane 8,271 (+242)       Adelaide 2,797 (+147)       Perth 7,549 (+147)       Hobart 1,213 (+7)       Darwin 181 (-4)       Canberra 1,228 (+25)       National 47,208 (-237)                UNITS FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 9,100 (+118)       Melbourne 6,842 (-31)       Brisbane 1,703 (+24)       Adelaide 418 (+32)       Perth 1,696 (+19)       Hobart 245 (+15)       Darwin 279 (+8)       Canberra 1,140 (-4)       National 21,423 (+181)                HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $800 ($0)       Melbourne $590 ($0)       Brisbane $650 ($0)       Adelaide $620 ($0)       Perth $695 (-$5)       Hobart $555 (-$15)       Darwin $780 (+$20)       Canberra $700 ($0)       National $684 (+$1)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $750 ($0)       Melbourne $600 ($0)       Brisbane $650 (+$5)       Adelaide $525 (+$25)       Perth $650 ($0)       Hobart $480 (-$13)       Darwin $570 (+$5)       Canberra $570 (-$10)       National $610 (+$1)                HOUSES FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 6,415 (-92)       Melbourne 8,122 (-49)       Brisbane 4,023 (-50)       Adelaide 1,424 (-45)       Perth 2,128 (-99)       Hobart 232 (+21)       Darwin 103 (-17)       Canberra 559 (-41)       National 23,006 (-372)                UNITS FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 9,115 (-492)       Melbourne 6,656 (-238)       Brisbane 2,047 (-142)       Adelaide 349 (-56)       Perth 639 (-48)       Hobart 107 (+5)       Darwin 178 (-21)       Canberra 550 (-3)       National 19,641 (-995)                HOUSE ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND         Sydney 2.54% (↓)       Melbourne 3.00% (↓)       Brisbane 3.25% (↓)       Adelaide 3.39% (↓)       Perth 3.91% (↓)       Hobart 3.80% (↓)     Darwin 5.27% (↑)      Canberra 3.77% (↑)        National 3.31% (↓)            UNIT ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND         Sydney 5.02% (↓)       Melbourne 6.52% (↓)       Brisbane 5.06% (↓)     Adelaide 5.48% (↑)        Perth 6.51% (↓)       Hobart 4.73% (↓)     Darwin 7.82% (↑)        Canberra 5.99% (↓)       National 5.58% (↓)            HOUSE RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 2.0% (↑)      Melbourne 1.9% (↑)      Brisbane 1.4% (↑)      Adelaide 1.3% (↑)      Perth 1.2% (↑)      Hobart 1.0% (↑)      Darwin 1.6% (↑)      Canberra 2.7% (↑)      National 1.7% (↑)             UNIT RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 2.4% (↑)      Melbourne 3.8% (↑)      Brisbane 2.0% (↑)      Adelaide 1.1% (↑)      Perth 0.9% (↑)      Hobart 1.4% (↑)      Darwin 2.8% (↑)      Canberra 2.9% (↑)      National 2.2% (↑)             AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL HOUSES AND TREND         Sydney 29.5 (↓)       Melbourne 31.6 (↓)       Brisbane 31.5 (↓)       Adelaide 26.2 (↓)       Perth 41.1 (↓)       Hobart 33.2 (↓)       Darwin 24.8 (↓)       Canberra 32.7 (↓)       National 31.3 (↓)            AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL UNITS AND TREND         Sydney 25.4 (↓)       Melbourne 31.6 (↓)       Brisbane 27.4 (↓)       Adelaide 23.7 (↓)       Perth 41.0 (↓)       Hobart 26.8 (↓)       Darwin 45.2 (↓)       Canberra 43.3 (↓)       National 33.0 (↓)           
Share Button

Many Boards Are Playing Catch-Up on ESG and Green Issues

Company board directors say ESG efforts have brought about real benefits, but the political backlash has had an impact

By ROB SLOAN
Sun, Sep 17, 2023 7:00amGrey Clock 5 min

Many corporate board directors aren’t confident about their ability—or their board’s—to oversee sustainability and social impact issues, even as companies pursue such goals and regulators want more disclosures on environmental, social and governance impact.

Eighty-three percent of directors surveyed said ESG topics were critical knowledge for directors, but less than half considered themselves to have “advanced” or “expert” level knowledge, according to a survey of board directors conducted in July by WSJ Pro in collaboration with the National Association of Corporate Directors.Directors of larger firms and listed companies expressed higher confidence, as did those in the energy industry.Respondents relied on external advisers to build their knowledge.

Other findings were that most believed sustainability efforts had brought real benefits and said ESG engagement with investors had been mostly positive. Directors also said the anti-ESG movement had an impact. They also reported that while about half of big companies had ESG targets—many linked to executive compensation—smaller, private companies lagged behind.

The survey’s 506 respondents covered a range of company sizes and included public, private and not-for-profit organizations from many sectors, with a concentration in financial services, industry, tech and energy. They said their ESG maturity level was across the spectrum: 4% self-identified as industry leaders, 27% as well developed, 36% as somewhat developed, 28% as early stage and 5% hadn’t started with ESG. Overall respondents rated their own ESG expertise slightly higher than that of their fellow board members.

Training up on sustainability

“As a board member, if you’re hoping that ESG is just a fad that will pass with time, we have enough data now from the last 2½ decades to know ESG is here to stay and boards need to be ready,” said Kristin Campbell, general counsel and chief ESG officer of Hilton Worldwide Holdings and board director at ODP and Regency Centers.

Campbell said boards must evaluate ESG as part of the company’s long-term strategy, otherwise activists, regulators, customers or someone else might do it for them, perhaps in a way that will be painful operationally or harmful to their reputation. “It’s that classic story of either you’re at the table or you’re on the menu, said Campbell.

Alan Smith—responsible for the strategic management of the Church of England’s £10.1 billion (equivalent to $12.6 billion) perpetual endowment fund—said many boards had brushed up on ESG knowledge with in-house training, e-learning packages or advisers to run workshops. A former senior adviser at HSBC on climate and ESG risk and current First Church Estates Commissioner, Smith said he also found it helpful to see projects, such as offshore-wind farms, and speak to their operators in person.

“I think an integrated approach to board director education—of which one important part is getting on the ground and in the mud or on the boat—is very important,” he said.

More than two thirds of directors said their organisations brought in external advisers to complement or build board’s ESG skills, with most advisers providing subject matter expertise (44%), education and training (41%), or research and analysis (37%).

“What we know about ESG will change today and will probably change tomorrow,” Hilton’s Campbell said. “It’s the job of an external adviser to know what’s going to happen next week and next year, which is useful in keeping the board ahead of the game.”

Stakeholder engagement

Overall, investors were the most influential stakeholders on board decisions related to ESG strategy, followed by company executives, regulators and customers. For public companies investors were most influential, followed by regulators, while directors of private businesses ranked their customers as top with investors in second place.

Respondents ranked their ESG-related interactions with investors as largely positive or neutral. Seventy-one percent of directors of organisations with investors said their largest ones had engaged with the board over the past 12 months on ESG topics.

However, public and private businesses approached this engagement quite differently. Private company investors most often engaged with the full board or directly with management, whereas public company investors worked most often with individual directors or sometimes with the full board, but rarely with management.

Anti-ESG impact

The survey also examined the impact of the rising anti-ESG movement in the U.S. Many boards started their ESG journey in 2020, but, particularly in the last six to 12 months, the extent of the political backlash in the U.S. has made it more complicated, said Smith. “You had a wind that was giving companies and boards energy, and now you have a countervailing wind of political backlash,” Smith said.

As the pressure has mounted, there have been numerous reports of green-hushing—when a company scales back what it says about its climate and social initiatives in corporate communications. The survey found evidence to support this: 7% of directors said their company no longer publicly communicates about its ESG activities, and 14% said their board and management no longer use the term ESG when referring to relevant activities.

Respondents report substantive changes too. One in five said their companies are reassessing their approach to ESG, 12% said they have deprioritised ESG as a critical business issue, and 15% of directors, primarily in smaller private businesses, believe ESG is negatively affecting their business decisions and strategy.

Despite those changes, half of respondents believe ESG will continue to be an important driver of their business decisions and strategy. Nearly as many say their board and management remain committed to ESG as an opportunity for growth and a driver of long-term risk reduction.

Driving ESG performance

While most respondents said ESG is critical knowledge for directors, only 37% of their organisations have set a climate-impact reduction target, although that was 54% for large organisations. Nine out of 10 of those companies with a target said their boards monitored their progress toward those goals and four out of five believed they were achievable.

To encourage management to hit targets, over one quarter of respondents said their company had linked executive pay to ESG goals, and a further 29% were considering doing so in the next 12 months.

“If we’re going to be more serious about ESG and building it into a company’s long-term strategy then I think it needs to be tied to executive compensation like any other [key performance indicator],” Campbell said.

Nearly a fifth of directors surveyed said reducing the impact of climate change is a priority regardless of financial performance. Almost half said it is a priority but not at the cost of financial performance, while the remaining third said it isn’t a priority at all.

Many directors report real benefits from their ESG efforts. In particular it has enhanced their company’s reputation and brand value (57%), risk management and resilience (54%), and ability to attract and retain talent (44% and 40%, respectively).

Climate change was talked about more frequently in 43% of the boardrooms, while in 31% it actually decreased. The topic was discussed at most or every board meeting for 29% of respondents, 36% said it came up at some meetings, and 23% said it was rarely talked about. Only 11%—primarily small, private companies—hadn’t discussed it at all.

Smith said it was particularly important for smaller companies to keep climate change front of mind: “Those that say they aren’t doing anything yet are paradoxically the ones that may be hit first because they’re downstream of big companies setting more immediate net zero carbon neutral targets.”

As well as calling it a business differentiator for small businesses, Smith said a focus on climate impact reduction was “a survival mechanism.”



MOST POPULAR
11 ACRES ROAD, KELLYVILLE, NSW

This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan

35 North Street Windsor

Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.

Related Stories
Money
NAB’s Earnings Hit by Higher Business-Loan Impairments
By Stuart Condie 19/02/2025
Money
Tech Giants Double Down on Their Massive AI Spending
By NATE RATTNER AND JASON DEAN 07/02/2025
Money
OpenAI in Talks for Huge Investment Round Valuing It Up to $300 Billion
By BERBER JIN and DEEPA SEETHARAMAN 31/01/2025
NAB’s Earnings Hit by Higher Business-Loan Impairments

The bank posted unaudited cash earnings for the quarter of A$1.7 billion, down 2% on the average of its prior two quarters

By Stuart Condie
Wed, Feb 19, 2025 < 1 min

National Australia Bank said that higher credit impairments against business loans contributed to a small fall in its unaudited December quarter cash earnings.

NAB , which is Australia’s second-largest bank by market capitalization, on Wednesday posted unaudited cash earnings for its fiscal first quarter of 1.74 billion Australian dollars, equivalent to about US$1.11 billion.

That was down 2% on the average of its prior two fiscal quarters. NAB did not give a year-earlier comparison.

The lender said that revenue grew by 3% compared with the average of its prior two fiscal quarters. Underlying profit growth of 4% over the same period was offset by higher credit impairment charges and income tax expenses, it added.

NAB, which posted an unaudited quarterly statutory profit of A$1.70 billion, said the A$267 million credit impairment charge included A$152 million of individually assessed charges. Those were mainly against Australian businesses and unsecured retail portfolios, it said.

The individual charges were up by 54% compared with a year earlier. NAB said that it had not altered its economic assumptions and scenario weightings.

“The economic outlook is improving but cost of living and interest rate challenges persisted,” Chief Executive Andrew Irvine said. “While most customers are proving resilient, we have maintained prudent balance sheet settings.”

NAB said it had seen a small decline in net interest margin due to funding costs, lending competition and deposits, partially offset by the benefit of higher interest rates.

On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia cut the country’s cash rate for the first time since 2020 but warned against expecting subsequent near-term cuts.

NAB is still targeting full fiscal-year productivity savings of more than A$400 million, and for operating expenses to grow by less than 4.5%, Irvine said.

MOST POPULAR
11 ACRES ROAD, KELLYVILLE, NSW

This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan

35 North Street Windsor

Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.

Related Stories
Lifestyle
Hidden Hinterland Gem: Byron Bay Estate with Historic Ties
By Kirsten Craze 07/02/2025
Property of the Week
Property of the Week: 8-10 Howard St, Kew
By Kirsten Craze 17/02/2025
Lifestyle
Dropping anchor on the cruise of a lifetime
By Mercedes Maguire 27/12/2024
0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop