How Material is a Material Issue? Stock Returns and the Financial Relevance and Financial Intensity of ESG Materiality

by dennis | Apr 12, 2020 | Articles 2020, News & Analysis

Robert G. EcclesauthorFollow SustainabilityTenured Harvard Business School professor, now at Oxford University. This paper investigates the role of the intensity and relevance of ESG materiality in equity returns. Adopting the classifications of materiality provided...

Encouraging News For Companies And Investors From Some SASB Early Adopters

by dennis | Mar 22, 2020 | Articles 2020, News & Analysis

Robert G. EcclesauthorFollow SustainabilityTenured Harvard Business School professor, now at Oxford University. On November 7, 2018 in a ceremony at the London Stock Exchange the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) announced that on October 16, 2018 its...

Here Is How To Set Global Standards For Nonfinancial Information

by dennis | Mar 18, 2020 | Articles 2020, News & Analysis

Robert G. EcclesauthorFollow SustainabilityTenured Harvard Business School professor, now at Oxford University. The opportunity has come to establish independent, rigorous global standards for nonfinancial information for companies’ environmental, social, and...

Asset Managers Get Their Own Letter: One From Chris Ailman, Hiro Mizuno, And Simon Pilcher

by dennis | Mar 16, 2020 | Articles 2020, News & Analysis

Robert G. EcclesauthorFollow SustainabilityTenured Harvard Business School professor, now at Oxford University. Larry Fink, the Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, has become famous for his annual letter to CEOs. For several years he has been exhorting them to generate...

Human Rights Really Aren’t All That Important: Just Ask 200 Leading Companies

by dennis | Mar 9, 2020 | Articles 2020, News & Analysis

Robert G. EcclesauthorFollow SustainabilityTenured Harvard Business School professor, now at Oxford University. That is the conclusion one reaches after reading the latest report by the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB), which was set up by investors and civil...

A Preliminary Analysis of SASB Reporting: Disclosure Topics, Financial Relevance, and the Financial Intensity of ESG Materiality

by dennis | Mar 4, 2020 | Articles 2020, News & Analysis

Robert G. EcclesauthorFollow SustainabilityTenured Harvard Business School professor, now at Oxford University. At the end of 2018, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) released the codified version of its standard that established measurement and...

World Benchmarking Alliance: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

by dennis | Feb 22, 2020 | Articles 2020, News & Analysis

Robert G. EcclesauthorFollow SustainabilityTenured Harvard Business School professor, now at Oxford University. There is now a general consensus that the private sector has a critical role to play in accomplishing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Doing...