ARTICLES
The Difference Between Purpose and Sustainability (aka ESG)
The Difference Between Purpose
and Sustainability (aka ESG)
Corporate purpose and sustainability (often referred to by the acronym of ESG for environmental, social, and governance) are now part of the mainstream lexicon in the corporate...
Would A $100 Per Ton Carbon Tax Get ExxonMobil To Right Its Errant Ways?
Would A $100 Per Ton Carbon Tax Get ExxonMobil
To Right Its Errant Ways?
The Democrats just introduced a bill seeking $500 billion in climate damages from oil giants such as Exxon and Chevron. While I understand the desire behind this legislation and...
Five Elements of Activist Stewardship: Insights from Two Letters
Five Elements of Activist Stewardship:
Insights from Two Letters
Engine No. 1 and Elliott Advisors each invested millions of dollars to do careful and in-depth analyses prior to launching their campaigns to improve the performance of...
SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce’s Chocolate-Covered Ideological Screed
SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce’s
Chocolate-Covered Ideological Screed
One week ago today on July 20, 2021 Trump appointee SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce (R) gave a 4,725 word speech to the Brookings Institution titillatingly titled...
A Dutch Court Fires A Warning Shot Across The Bow Of U.S. Enterprise
A Dutch Court Fires A Warning Shot Across
The Bow Of U.S. Enterprise
After baseball, litigation is America’s national sport. A Harvard Law School paper, “Comparative Litigation Rates,” by Professors J. Mark Ramseyer & Eric B. Rasmusen notes...
What the Shell Judgment Means for US Directors
What the Shell Judgment Means
for US Directors
The recent decision of a Dutch court in Milieudefensie and Ors. v Royal Dutch Shell plc reinforces the expansion of tort law to climate change issues. As this application of tort...
The International Sustainability Standards Board As An Ideological Rorschach Test
The International Sustainability Standards Board As
An Ideological Rorschach Test
One of its attributes that Makes America Great Again and Again is that people are free to express a wide range of views. For example, on the left there are people grounded in...
The Curious Case Of Elliott Advisors And GSK: Are Activist Investors What They Used To Be?
The Curious Case Of Elliott Advisors And GSK: Are Activist
Investors What They Used To Be?
On July 1, 2021 Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited published a letter sent to Sir Jonathan Symonds and Members of the Board of Directors of GSK, which includes Chief Executive Dame...
Dear Mr. Buffett: How Does It Feel To Be Like A Rolling Stone?
Dear Mr. Buffett: How Does It Feel To
Be Like A Rolling Stone?
Once upon a time you dressed so fine Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you? People call say 'beware doll, you're bound to fall' You thought they were all kidding you...
Support for sustainable standards
Support for
Sustainable Standards
The importance of setting global standards for sustainability reporting cannot be overemphasised, and although the world is well positioned to implement such standards, strong...
Here Comes The Sun For ExxonMobil’s Shareholders
Here Comes The Sun For
ExxonMobil’s Shareholders
Here comes the sun do, do, do Here comes the sun And I say it’s all right The Beatles, 1969 The months before ExxonMobil’s May 26, 2021 Annual Shareholder Meeting were very...
Organizational and Political Issues Concerning the Establishment of the Sustainability Standards Board
Organizational and Political Issues Concerning the Establishment
of the Sustainability Standards Board
Great progress is being made in establishing the IFRS Foundation’s Sustainability Standards Board (SSB) and events are moving quickly. Here I would like to give my personal views...
‘The Vote’ (A Play In Three Acts By ExxonMobil Productions)
‘The Vote’ (A Play In Three Acts By
ExxonMobil Productions)
Critical Acclaim: “’The Vote’ is a monumental and innovative theatrical achievement. This compelling human drama is Shakespearean in its depth and breadth while also being part...
Aesop’s Fables And ExxonMobil’s May 26, 2021 Annual Shareholder Meeting Weather Report
Aesop’s Fables And ExxonMobil’s May 26, 2021 Annual
Shareholder Meeting Weather Report
Long as I remember the rain been comin' down Clouds of mystery pourin' confusion on the ground Good men through the ages tryin' to find the sun And I wonder, still I wonder,...
Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio Theory: It’s About Time!
Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio
Theory: It’s About Time!
I have previously written about the importance of system-level investing for managing systemic risks. In essence, this involves an investor considering the negative externalities...
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