Rodney E. Hood, National Credit Union Administration board member, discusses recent ESG-related legislation and the role governments can play during a panel at the February 2023 Frontiers of Business Conference.
CEO pay is the latest point of contention in the political fight over ESG, but the arguments have become oversimplified. When we think about good corporate governance, what does the evidence say about CEO pay? The results may surprise you.
Students from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, in partnership with UNC's Program for Public Discourse, will gather to address the opportunities and risks of an environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG)-centered approach to financial decision-making.
Our 2023 Frontiers of Business Conference will convene top researchers, corporate executives and policy leaders working around the globe to navigate the balance of corporate value and values. Join us as our experts share objective, evidence-based solutions for implementing stakeholder capitalism and ESG frameworks more broadly.
For our 2022 grand challenge, the Kenan Institute made the ambitious commitment to explore stakeholder capitalism and ESG investing – complex topics that have required the engagement of our global network of experts to unpack.
Executive Director Greg Brown offers a simple model for prioritizing ESG issues at smaller PE-backed companies, given that the trade-offs between benefits and costs of implementation are more likely to limit the scope of their policies.
A daunting tangle of problems defines the global energy space as 2022 winds down. On the one hand, the war in the Ukraine combined with curtailed Russian oil/gas supplies into Europe has reminded many that unfriendly energy suppliers can also deliver inflation and hardship to their customers. On another side, efforts to increase oil/gas supplies both in Europe and globally, face stout resistance to anything that might further entrench hydrocarbons into national economies. Inflation is prompting monetary policies to tighten even as fiscal indiscipline continues via historically high government deficit spending. Concerns over climate change remain an article of faith among leaders of many countries. Other voices decry the folly of calls to suppress oil/gas production when greener alternatives are not ready to replace them. Electorates seem both confused and restless. The risk that they vote in leaders less insistent on decarbonizing economies is palpable.
Can investing in polluting industries be a tool for fostering sustainability? Yes, according to research by Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow Jacquelyn Pless, and it may be more effective than divesting.
Pastor, a Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow, will discuss how green stocks — despite outperforming brown in recent years because of an unexpectedly strong increase in environmental concerns — have lower expected future returns than brown.
There are few topics in business more current, more covered or more controversial than corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibilities. Proponents claim a business’s adoption of such principles yields outcomes that benefit all parties, driving win-win scenarios for internal and external stakeholders alike. But critics dismiss ESG implementation as a performative PR ploy, and argue that considering such non-pecuniary factors in corporate decision-making is unsustainable. Our (independent, nonpartisan) findings indicate both sides of the debate are missing the mark – and in hopes of advancing more productive conversations, we introduce below a research-based model for examining the trade-offs of ESG adoption for businesses large and small.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and his family will transfer ownership of the company – valued at roughly $3 billion – to two newly created environmental trusts. In this Kenan Commentary, we ask four questions to determine how Chouinard’s move fits into the framework of the institute’s annual theme, stakeholder capitalism, and whether a better comparison is the laudable but more common idea of an altruistic business owner.
ESG Investing and the Reckoning to Come
For some years now, environmental, social and governance investing has stormed the asset management industry with explosive growth. Tighter and increased oversight may finally bring it back down to earth.