Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance Viewpoints
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Thoughts for Employers Celebrating Juneteenth for the First Time
June 19, 2020 | Blog
As the national conscience has elevated after the death of George Floyd regarding social justice and racial equality, many employers have begun to self-reflect on their own standing with communities of color and the Black community specifically. For many companies, the diversity and inclusion function has taken center stage to process concerns, facilitate trainings and determine metrics for progress. The recognition that more needs to be done on racial equity inside and outside the workplace has led to a record number of companies providing recognition of Juneteenth – a historic day for many African-Americans celebrating the reading of federal orders in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, which proclaimed slaves to be free.
Whether it is a company recognizing this event by initiating a new diversity action plan, facilitating a day of self-education and reflection on racial progress, or giving staff some form of PTO, here are some of my thoughts related to Juneteenth.
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Whether it is a company recognizing this event by initiating a new diversity action plan, facilitating a day of self-education and reflection on racial progress, or giving staff some form of PTO, here are some of my thoughts related to Juneteenth.
Energy & Sustainability Event Highlights — June 2020
June 4, 2020 | Article | By Thomas R. Burton, III, Sahir Surmeli
Learn about upcoming energy industry webinars, including one on impact investment strategies for family offices in a post-COVID-19 world hosted by Mintz.
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Investor Advisory Committee Pushes SEC to Lead on ESG Disclosures
June 1, 2020 | Blog | By Sahir Surmeli, Thomas R. Burton, III
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee’s Investor-as-Owner Subcommittee recently voted 14-4 to approve a recommendation that urges the Commission (SEC) to begin an effort to update the reporting requirements of public companies to include material, decision-useful environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.
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Sustainable Investing Will Change the World
May 31, 2019 | Blog | By Sahir Surmeli
In the past several years, green bonds, sustainability bonds, social bonds, and bank loans with environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles embedded in loan pricing have been finding their way to market. Find out more about the importance and prevalence of these bonds here!
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Save the World, Reduce Your Cost of Capital: How Danone is Turning ESG Impact into Lower Borrowing Costs
March 15, 2018 | Blog | By Sahir Surmeli
The world is changing! Over the last several years, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria have been an emerging focus in the investing world, primarily driven by equity investors where it can be harder for a company raising funds to correlate capital costs with ESG impact.
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Impact Investing: Doing Well by Doing Good
December 15, 2015 | Article
From the days of divesting assets from companies doing business in apartheid South Africa and withholding investments to protest big tobacco, values-based investing has come a long way. And it’s no longer just about hippie companies like Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, which pioneered the concept of corporate social responsibility. With impact investing, investors are now seeking to use the markets to solve the toughest challenges of our time, such as financial inclusion, climate change, access to health care, and affordable housing. So what exactly is impact investing?
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