ESG Insider: A podcast from S&P Global
236 episodes - English - Latest episode: 26 days ago - ★★★★ - 52 ratingsESG Insider is a podcast from S&P Global that takes you inside the environmental, social & governance issues shaping the business world today. In each episode, co-hosts Lindsey Hall and Esther Whieldon interview ESG experts, leveraging S&P Global data to shine a light on the sustainability opportunities and risks that business leaders and investors need to know about. Lindsey Hall is head of ESG Thought Leadership at S&P Global Sutainable1 and Esther Whieldon is a Senior Writer on the team.
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Episodes
Why companies, investors should be worried about water
March 25, 2021 20:49 - 25 minutes - 58.4 MBWorld Water Day was March 22nd, and we’re marking the occasion by looking at the looming threat of water scarcity and the lack of investor appetite for financing water-related projects. According to the United Nations, 2.2 billion people globally lack safely managed drinking water, and 4.2 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation. The U.N. also warns that water scarcity could displace 700 million people by 2030. Access to clean water has become even more vital with COVID-19, wh...
EU revolutionizes sustainability regulation with SFDR
March 22, 2021 20:58 - 14 minutes - 33.8 MBNew sustainable finance disclosure regulations came into force in Europe on March 10 as part of the EU’s push towards making the economy greener. The new Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, or SFDR, is expected to drastically change the scope of sustainable investing by providing greater clarity and transparency and increasing disclosure. Fund managers will now have to disclose environmental, social and governance risks in their portfolios, marking the first step in a vast EU plan t...
Diversity data is lacking; New report seeks to fix that
March 12, 2021 21:42 - 13 minutes - 30.5 MBInvestors, customers and employees are paying increasing attention to corporate diversity. That was true for gender in the wake of the #MeToo movement, and it has been increasingly true of race following the death of George Floyd in the U.S. But data is lacking, especially around racial and ethnic diversity. In this episode, we explore a first-of-its-kind diversity report that provides a much-needed window into corporate diversity. This new report is the result of an Illinois law that requ...
Banks’ big green EU taxonomy challenge
March 05, 2021 23:03 - 17 minutes - 39.9 MBInvestors and banks have less than a year to comply with the European Union’s new taxonomy for sustainable activities. In this episode, we explore the challenges financial institutions face in applying the taxonomy to their portfolios — something the Biden administration is sure to be watching as it tackles its own climate goals. Starting in January 2022 investors must explain how they use the taxonomy to assess the sustainability of their investments. They will also have to disclose what...
When climate science and business collide
February 26, 2021 21:57 - 30 minutes - 69.8 MBInvestor pressure is growing for companies and financial institutions to assess and disclose their exposure to climate risks such as wildfires, sea-level rise, hurricanes and other extreme weather events. But in a new report, a handful of climate scientists in Australia warn that many existing climate models are extremely nuanced and were not designed with a business-specific application in mind. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we explore the challenges of using climate models...
Global stimulus funds fall short of boosting green economy
February 19, 2021 19:55 - 17 minutes - 39.7 MBOver the last year, 30 of the world’s richest countries have poured an unprecedented $14.9 trillion into stimulus spending to help revive their pandemic-hit economies. Some hoped that this massive wave of spending would turbo-charge investment in greener industries, such as electric cars, efficient buildings and renewable energy. But has that actually happened? In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we take a closer look at how much global stimulus spending has gone to fighting clima...
A deep dive into BlackRock's net-zero plan
February 11, 2021 22:18 - 15 minutes - 35.8 MBBlackRock CEO Larry Fink made waves in the ESG world last month by pushing companies to plan for a net-zero emissions future. His annual letter also committed to taking more concrete steps within BlackRock to enable the decarbonization transition. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we dive into BlackRock’s own net-zero strategy. We talk to experts about what it means and how much further the world’s largest asset manager still needs to go. Fink has acknowledged that BlackRock has ...
'Stakeholder capitalism,' the buzzword at Davos
February 05, 2021 20:10 - 14 minutes - 33.1 MBStakeholder capitalism — the idea that companies are responsible for their role in society in addition to making money for shareholders — has taken on new meaning thanks to COVID-19. It was the buzzword among major players in the ESG world like BlackRock CEO Larry Fink as well as heads of government at the Davos summit last week. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we dive into stakeholder capitalism — what it means and what people were saying at the World Economic Forum's annual D...
Biden transition brings wave of ESG uncertainty, opportunity
January 28, 2021 21:28 - 22 minutes - 52.8 MBNew U.S. President Joe Biden has made climate change a priority and is setting the nation on a much more sustainability-focused path than his predecessor. Just days into his term, Biden had already has taken dozens of executive actions, including rejoining the Paris agreement on climate change and ordering a review of rules the Trump administration finalized in the last days of its term. In the latest episode of S&P Global podcast ESG Insider, we talk to experts about what the change of a...
The ESG trends that will drive 2021
December 31, 2020 16:53 - 27 minutes - 63.2 MBIn this final episode of 2020, we'll talk with experts about what key ESG themes they expect to unfold in 2021. State Street Global Advisors’ EMEA Head of ESG Investment Strategy Carlo Funk outlines the firm’s ESG priorities for the year ahead, while proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis' Director of ESG Research Courteney Keatinge describes why COVID-19 will continue to be a key theme behind shareholder engagement in 2021. Trillium Asset Management CEO Matt Patsky talks about the continued ne...
Risky business: Investors seek meat industry changes amid COVID-19
November 23, 2020 16:58 - 21 minutes - 50.3 MBThis special pre-Thanksgiving episode puts a spotlight on the meat industry that is supplying the turkeys and other poultry, pork, fish, and beef products many Americans will be feasting on for the holiday. The meat industry has been hard hit by COVID-19, as the pandemic has exposed frailties in everything from supply chains to production processes and associated greenhouse gas emissions levels to worker safety. In the episode, we talk with Jeremy Coller, the founder of the industry activist...
Financial regulators should act 'urgently' on climate, says CFTC commissioner
October 28, 2020 15:57 - 19 minutes - 44.1 MBU.S. financial regulators need to step up in the fight against climate change, according to one of their own. Rostin Behnam, a commissioner at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, talks to ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast on environmental, social and governance issues, about a report released in September by a panel of nearly three dozen Wall Street, energy and sustainability executives and experts. In the report, the CFTC's Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee concluded th...
The New 'Sandwich Generation': New York Hospital Exec Says Pandemic Will Force Rethink of Eldercare
October 22, 2020 19:37 - 34 minutes - 78.3 MBPictured is Pamela Sutton-Wallace and her two daughters. In this episode, we bring you an exclusive interview with Pamela Sutton-Wallace, a healthcare executive at a New York City hospital that is one of the largest in the U.S. She took on the role just weeks before the pandemic turned the city into a coronavirus hotspot. Sutton-Wallace shares her decades of personal and professional experience as a leader in the healthcare industry while raising her children. She tells us how she expec...
How COVID-19 is forcing big changes for parents, family caregivers
October 19, 2020 09:00 - 28 minutes - 64.6 MBIn this special episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we explore how corporate America is responding to COVID-19 with new policies for employees caring for children and elderly relatives. S&P Global partnered with AARP to research how leave policies are evolving in the U.S. private sector as part of S&P Global’s #ChangePays initiative, which produces research about the benefits of increasing women participation in the work force. In the episode we unpack that research, which found the pace of ...
Duke Energy CEO explains new climate, environmental justice moves
October 15, 2020 14:42 - 30 minutes - 70.5 MBDuke Energy Corp. President, CEO and board Chair Lynn Good sat down for an exclusive interview just hours after the electric utility company held its first ESG investor day on Oct. 9. Lynn talked to ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast about environmental, social and governance issues, about Duke’s evolving climate strategy. She also explained how the company is handling social issues ranging from racial tensions to working with customers who are struggling to pay their electric bills during...
The 'name and shame' game: How 2 state laws tackle corporate racial diversity
October 08, 2020 17:33 - 31 minutes - 72.2 MBIllinois and California have passed new corporate racial diversity laws to prod publicly traded companies to embrace racial diversity on their boards. In this episode of ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast about environmental, social and governance issues, two of the lawmakers behind the bills explain why the move was needed and could have ramifications beyond their state borders. "Companies are responding to the public shame and making changes," Illinois State Representative Chris Welch sai...
Walmart sustainability head talks climate change, supply chain strategy
September 23, 2020 16:01 - 25 minutes - 57.8 MBThe coronavirus has slammed the retail sector and caused many companies to go out of business. But the pandemic has been a catalyst for growth at Walmart Inc., one of the world's largest retailers. The company's e-commerce sales jumped 97% in the second quarter as consumers hibernated at home and relied increasingly on online shopping. That growth also means an expanding carbon footprint. In this special Climate Week episode of ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast, we talk to Walmart’s chief...
Why one big asset manager dropped companies over lobbying
September 21, 2020 18:27 - 23 minutes - 55.1 MBCompanies that lobby against climate-friendly laws and policies are putting the overall goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change at risk and have a "weak recognition of the challenges ahead," Jan Erik Saugestad, CEO of Norway's largest private investment firm Storebrand Asset Management AS, said in an exclusive interview. In the latest episode of ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast about environmental, social and governance issues, Saugestad talked about the new climate policy Storebr...
The ESG implications of a proposed US Labor Department rule
August 26, 2020 17:07 - 22 minutes - 51 MBThe U.S. Department of Labor received thousands of comments on a newly proposed rule that says sustainable investments still need to put financial performance first to have a place in corporate retirement plans. Some say the proposal would put needed guardrails in place around an increasingly popular investment product, but others argue that the rule will hamper ESG options in pension funds. We talk to sustainability experts on both sides of the debate in the latest episode ESG Insider, an...
European banks sharpen ESG focus as COVID-19 highlights risk
July 31, 2020 18:13 - 17 minutes - 40.1 MBESG Insider interviewed sustainability leaders at some of Europe’s largest financial institutions: BBVA in Spain, BNP Paribas in France and Barclays in the U.K. This is the third in a three-part miniseries that features interviews with some of the biggest lenders around the world about how they're adapting their ESG strategies amid COVID-19. In Europe, climate change remains in sharp focus for banks despite the current coronavirus crisis. As scientists caution that deforestation and destruct...
Head of major US gas utility outlines path to net-zero emissions
July 27, 2020 20:58 - 23 minutes - 54.1 MB"This isn't just a pie-in-the-sky commitment or announcement. This is something that we spent a lot of time researching and analyzing and studying," DTE Gas Co. President and COO Matt Paul said of the company's plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Paul made the comment in an exclusive interview with ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast about environmental, social and governance issues. DTE Gas parent company DTE Energy is among the largest electric and gas companies in the U....
COVID-19 shows many ESG agendas have 'forgotten about the people'
July 20, 2020 00:44 - 25 minutes - 59.4 MB"Sustainability was always around people, planet and profit. I just think for the longest time we've forgotten about the people," said Mikkel Larsen, chief sustainability officer at Singapore-based " data-original-title="">DBS Group Holdings Ltd., in an interview for the latest episode of "ESG Insider," an S&P Global podcast. In the coronavirus pandemic, Larsen said, "We've been reminded that you can't have one without the two others." Larsen said the pandemic has brought social issues...
How the biggest US bank is adapting its ESG approach amid COVID, racism
June 30, 2020 14:38 - 19 minutes - 45.7 MBClimate change took "a bit of a backseat" during the first several weeks of the coronavirus pandemic as "governments and businesses frankly were really just focused on survival," JPMorgan Chase Head of Sustainability Marisa Buchanan said in an exclusive interview in the latest episode of "ESG Insider," an S&P Global podcast. "As economies begin to rebuild [and] businesses have greater ability to focus on these issues, we're going to see budget and bandwidth come back hopefully," Buchanan ...
Why S&P Global Ratings sees ESG as critical to COVID-era credit quality
June 23, 2020 14:02 - 20 minutes - 47.4 MBMore than 370 credit rating actions taken by S&P Global Ratings since March have been driven by environmental, social and governance factors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, S&P Global Ratings' Americas Team Leader for Sustainable Finance Michael Ferguson said in an exclusive interview for the latest episode of "ESG Insider," an S&P Global podcast. Companies in nearly every sector have been hard hit by the economic impacts of the pandemic and many have seen their credit rating downgra...
Investors press Amazon, other companies on COVID-19 workforce concerns
June 11, 2020 18:15 - 29 minutes - 69.4 MBInvestors are moving to hold companies such as Amazon more accountable on workforce management during the COVID-19 crisis, Fiona Reynolds, the CEO of PRI, or the Principles for Responsible Investment, said in an exclusive interview for the latest episode of ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast. To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, many governments have ordered social distancing and for people to stay home, with exception to essential workers. But this has meant that many companies that ...
'No board in America wants to face that': Proxy reform, Fink's letter and ESG
March 09, 2020 18:19 - 20 minutes - 47.4 MBWall Street's top regulator is moving to fundamentally reshape the proxy process, one of the key avenues shareholders use to engage with companies on environmental, social and governance issues. In the latest episode of ESG Insider, a podcast hosted by S&P Global, we talk to stakeholders about what the proxy rule changes the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is weighing could mean for companies and investors. Some investors worry that proposed rule changes could make it harder for ...
These are the top issues the ESG world is focused on in 2020
January 14, 2020 16:06 - 22 minutes - 50.4 MB"Baby steps are equivalent to nothing in this day and age.” This is what Mindy Lubber told ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast about the environmental, social and governance issues shaping company strategies and investor decisions. Lubber is CEO of sustainability nonprofit Ceres, and she was talking about how slowly many companies are reacting to climate change and disclosing their environmental risks. In this first episode of 2020, ESG Insider talked to Lubber and other key stakeholders ac...
Inside the campaign to end forced labor in Uzbekistan's cotton fields
December 19, 2019 00:06 - 17 minutes - 40.3 MBIn this episode of ESG Insider, S&P Global Market Intelligence reporter Gautam Naik takes listeners inside the campaign to end forced labor in Uzbekistan's cotton fields. He visited Uzbek cotton fields during the 2019 harvest, sat down with human rights activists and interviewed government ministers trying to change the system. A decade ago, Uzbekistan forced more than one million doctors, teachers, nurses and even schoolchildren to head out into the fields each autumn and bring in the cot...
PE's approach to ESG evolving, but could be mandatory in future
December 16, 2019 16:39 - 15 minutes - 35.9 MBPrivate equity investors are paying increasing attention to environmental, social and governance factors and in response many firms are implementing strategies to ensure portfolio companies are screened against ESG factors. This focus is likely to intensify and could even become a requirement for a fund over time, representatives from some of the world’s most prominent private equity firms say in the latest episode of ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast. At The Blackstone Group Inc., the wo...
The problem with social audits
November 25, 2019 17:11 - 22 minutes - 52.5 MBSocial audits are used by consumer goods companies to identify potential human rights abuses, labor violations, and other ESG risks in their supply chains. But critics argue that social audits fall short of their stated objectives. In this episode of ESG Insider, we explore the social audit process and talk to experts about flaws in the system. (Photo: AP)
How a non-profit is using technology to fight child labor in the cocoa industry
October 28, 2019 18:04 - 14 minutes - 33 MBChild labor has been a longstanding scourge in the $100-billion cocoa industry for more than two decades. Despite efforts by U.S. Congressmen, African governments, the world’s biggest chocolate companies and various non-profit groups, it has been a tough nut to crack. In this episode, we look at program that actually seems to be having an effect. It uses a network of smartphones to identify child laborers on thousands of remote farms in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. It then tries to persuade fa...
New EU taxonomy helps investors, companies identify green investments
August 22, 2019 16:00 - 27 minutes - 62.5 MBA proposed new European Union green classification system would help investors and companies identify and make environmentally friendly decisions and may evolve over time to include rules for social and governance-related investments, experts explain on the latest episode of ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast. The taxonomy, which the European Commission released for comment in June, "sits at the heart of the EU's action plan on sustainable finance and it's really the essential definition b...
SEC's Peirce worries ESG movement could hinder corporate performance
June 24, 2019 16:00 - 26 minutes - 48.6 MBThe environmental, social and governance movement could weaken the performance of companies that have already done a lot of good for society, Commissioner Hester Peirce of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in an exclusive interview for the latest episode of ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast. Peirce said she worries some managers use companies as their "personal piggy bank" in the name of fulfilling social objectives and she worries that trend could grow as millennials move ...
Post ‘Me Too’ movement, gender pay equality efforts gain momentum
May 14, 2019 16:00 - 18 minutes - 34.6 MB"The environment in which the debate is happening, it's not like it was 10 years ago. We're in the midst of a 'Me Too' movement, we're in the midst of a very, very public discussion about equal pay." This is what Rep. Rosa DeLauro told S&P Global Market Intelligence about why she recently reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act and why she thinks it has momentum as it heads to the Senate. It has has already been a big year for pay equity advocates: In January, Citigroup Inc. became the fi...
Inside proxy fights over climate, gender pay and political spending
March 28, 2019 16:00 - 32 minutes - 59.4 MBThe interviews: U.S. EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler, Citigroup Global Head of HR Sara Wechter, Arjuna Capital Managing Partner Natasha Lamb, Center for Political Accountability President Bruce Freed, ACCF VP of Policy Tim Doyle, As You Sow President Danielle Fugere. The backstory: Shareholders filed proposals on nearly 400 environmental, social and sustainability issues at U.S. companies through mid-February. The top topics were climate change, gender diversity and corporate political spendi...
Experts say these ESG trends will shape 2019
February 14, 2019 17:00 - 14 minutes - 19.8 MBThe interviews: Rakhi Kumar, State Street Global Advisors’ head of ESG investments; Libby Bernick, Trucost managing director; Mindy Lubber, CEO and president of Ceres. The backstory: Progress on corporate disclosures. A looming talent shortage. Climate change mitigation. These are among the top trends that sustainability experts predict will shape the ESG landscape in 2019. In the inaugural episode of ESG Insider, a new podcast from S&P Global, co-hosts Esther Whieldon and Lindsey White sp...