16 November 2021
We are excited to launch the 2021 edition of our Global Bank Review, ESG: Creating a Purposeful Future.
Have banks, like much of the corporate world, suddenly got religion on all things environmental, social and governance (ESG)? Many regulators and policymakers are already converts to the ESG cause.
ESG poses challenges to banks, in many forms – new taxonomies and disclosure standards; scrutiny of banks’ financial exposures to climate change; shareholder resolutions from activists; enhanced due diligence requirements to protect human rights; and warning shots about avoiding greenwashing, to mention a few. However, there is an abundance of opportunity – for example, financing new technologies in the transition to a lower carbon economy, and a seemingly insatiable investor appetite for sustainability-linked loans and green products. Banks, in deploying their capital and driving corporate behaviour, can have a significant influence in shaping the ESG conversion.
We explore these (and many other) ESG hot topics in this year’s Global Bank Review.
The publication can be accessed here: 2021 Global Bank Review – ESG: Creating a Purposeful Future.
For further information, please contact:
Simon Clarke, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills
simon.clarke@hsf.com
