The report’s recommendations cover a number of areas, including culture and strategy, monitoring and reporting, investor engagement, policy formation and employee training, and philanthropy.
By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green
A new report from the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner draws attention to how the financial services industry can help address the issue of modern slavery. The report, “Preventing Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking: An Agenda for Action across the Financial Services Sector” (the Report), aims to sound “a call to action for the industry”. The Report, which was released on 18 January 2021, is the result of a research and outreach project led by Themis in partnership with the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s Office and TRIBE Freedom Foundation.
As the Report notes, in relation to financial services, modern slavery is less overt and usually refers to employment of low skilled contract workers such as cleaning or catering workers.
A group of leading sustainability and integrated reporting organisations has published a paper addressing standards for reporting on enterprise value and presenting prototypes of climate-related financial disclosure standards (the Paper). The co-authors include the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the Climate Disclosure Standard Board (CDSB), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) (the Organisations). The Organisations released the paper on 18 December 2020, several months after 
Despite concerns early in 2020 that the pandemic would impact the growth of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives, the opposite proved to be the case with political and investor momentum aligning and ESG initiatives surging in the climate of “building back better”. This growth will likely accelerate in 2021, particularly as leading economies and financial centres in the US, China, the EU, and the UK make political and legislative commitments focused on ESG and investors double down on their ESG demands.
Richard Monks, Director of Strategy at the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), recently delivered a speech on the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting regime and how it can be improved as part of SRI Services and Partners’ Good Money Week, held in October. The speech draws particular attention to the increasing use and relevance of ESG ratings.
In recent years, the market has witnessed a sharp divide both within the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) itself and between the investor community and the SEC over the regulation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures, as discussed in this 
The year 2020, with all of its tumult and tragedy, has challenged the relationship between companies and supply chains. Companies have faced operational challenges in sourcing goods from suppliers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, many suppliers have found themselves in financial extremis and facing difficulty meeting their ongoing cash-flow needs. To meet their needs, companies and suppliers have begun to use supply chain financing arrangements with increasing regularity. Such arrangements have, however, raised concerns with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and prompted the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to consider the proper accounting treatment. Finally, while not a new phenomenon, the year 2020 has seen new litigation seeking to hold companies responsible for the conduct of their suppliers. 
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present unprecedented challenges for European private equity firms and their portfolio companies. A significant number of companies have been forced to undertake emergency liquidity measures, make difficult decisions to ensure the health and safety of their workforce, and pivot their business models, all whilst trying
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) was more prominent than ever in 2019, as issues such as climate change and corporate responsibility regularly appeared in news cycles worldwide. This year, observers can expect even more focus on this area, with public awareness of ESG at an all-time high, and major ESG-related events set to take place.
In December 2015, world leaders met to negotiate the Paris Agreement. Setting aside whether the Paris Agreement goes too far, not far enough or is just right, one cannot dispute that government commitments to limit an increase in the global average temperature to well below two degrees Celsius will almost certainly impact private equity funds. In particular, regulatory and investor demand are likely to change the way climate-related risks are assessed. As Blackrock notes, “…carbon-heavy industries are not immune from disruption, nor are asset prices from regulatory efforts to mitigate climate change risk. We believe investors should thoughtfully consider these dynamics in order to build sustainable portfolios and take advantage of investment opportunities as we move towards a low-carbon economy”.