Unlocking the route to the Board table?
Investigating the impact of ESG on Corporate Affairs: reporting lines, trends and talent pools
The term ‘ESG’ encompasses how businesses address key themes across environment, social and governance, but where does responsibility sit and how has ESG reshaped the Corporate Affairs function?
Over the last year, our global business has had a significant rise in the number of requests for support to appoint ESG positions across all sectors. Each role and the emphasis on the E, S or G, vary widely by geography, sector and business model. What is consistent is the desire to recruit, at speed, professionals who can help companies respond to increasing stakeholder and shareholder pressure.
For this reason, our report considers ESG in its broadest sense, as it appears in titles of roles in senior leadership positions.
In this paper, we explore the emergence of this business-critical function, consider the impact of the agenda on the Corporate Affairs function and arguments for/against a Corporate Affairs Director sponsor of ESG.
Key questions answered in this report, include:
- How is stakeholder pressure forcing the ESG agenda?
- Functional trends: where does the CSO exist?
- Who has responsibility for ESG?
- What are the global business priorities around E, S or G?
- Where are the skill gaps?
For more information, please contact Hannah Peech, Head of the Corporate Affairs Practice.