纳斯达克的ESG顾问史蒂夫·瓦尔加斯（Steve Vargas）在6月的虚拟纳斯达克投资者关系论坛上讨论了有关ESG报告和参与的受众调查结果。

根据纳斯达克年度投资者关系论坛最近的一次参与者调查，几乎有一半的发行人（45％）认为社会问题比过去更受投资者关注。

近年来，环境和治理问题一直处于ESG与投资者互动的最前沿，而新冠疫情和种族平等抗议则使人们更加关注公司的社会政策-从员工健康、安全和敬业度到多元化和包容政策以及关于社区的行动和参与。

纳斯达克市场情报公司的ESG首席分析师瓦尔加斯说：“这种说法确实发生了变化。 “如果明尼苏达州和全美各地的事件向我们展示出某种东西，那就是您需要制定政策并分享观点的时候。获得投资者的意见显然很重要，同时也要让您的员工和员工表达意见并与您的组织合作。”

瓦尔加斯补充说，不同的董事会和管理团队可以带来更广泛的观点，这在识别风险和机会方面都具有很大的优势。

毫无疑问，这是投资者不久将要关注的话题，纳斯达克的受众调查显示，有53％的受访者将其投资者视为其公司ESG报告和参与度的主要推动力。另有33％的受访者表示，董事会和管理团队是主要推动力。

瓦尔加斯承认，许多发行人仍在思考哪种ESG指标对他们的投资者最重要，并且有些人在努力区分SASB（可持续会计准则委员会）、GRI（全球报告倡议组织）、TCFD（气候相关财务信息披露工作组）、CDP（碳信息披露项目）和其他报告框架和指南的缩写词。 瓦尔加斯说：“对于许多人来说，ESG报告仍然感觉像是狂野的西部，具有许多不同的框架可供选择。”由于对社会问题的额外关注，这一点在今年尤为明显，而社会问题以前是报道不足的ESG领域。

瓦尔加斯补充说，投资者关系团队可以在投资者管理报告中找到很多有用的信息，其中许多是最近已发布或即将发布的。这些可以提供对投资者参与度和ESG优先级（由其客户和联合国可持续发展目标确定）的可行见解，以及建议采用报告框架的建议。瓦尔加斯解释说：“投资者正在形成更多的视角，因此了解您的股东对这些问题的看法很有帮助。”

这对于50％的活动参与者说，对于过去没有发布可持续性报告的公司特别有用。 瓦尔加斯指出，许多中小型公司正在努力改善其ESG信息披露，但不一定有资源或专门的可持续发展团队来提供帮助。

考虑到这一点，瓦尔加斯建议投资者关系团队与其他内部部门合作以协助ESG报告和参与。除适用的可持续发展团队外，许多投资者关系团队还与总法律顾问和公司秘书办公室的同行建立了更紧密的联系。瓦尔加斯注意到投资者今年对社会问题的关注，建议投资者关系团队与另一个关键职能部门的领导者建立更深层次的关系。瓦尔加斯解释说：“在投资者关系中，您需要尽可能多的盟友，而与HR合作是围绕一个有关您员工制定战略的好方法。”

Steve Vargas, ESG advisory at Nasdaq, discusses findings from audience polling on ESG reporting and engagement at the virtual Nasdaq IR Forum in June

Almost half of issuers (45 percent) expect social issues to be more of a focus in upcoming investor engagements than in the past, according to a recent poll of attendees at Nasdaq’s annual IR Forum.

Whereas environmental and governance issues have been at the forefront of ESG interactions with investors in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial equality protests have placed a greater focus on companies’ social policies – from employee health, safety and engagement to diversity and inclusion policies, and community action and engagement.

"The narrative has really shifted," says Steve Vargas, Lead ESG Advisory Analyst at Nasdaq IR Intelligence. "If the events in Minnesota and across the U.S. showed us anything, it’s that you need to have a policy in place and share your own perspective. It’s obviously important to gets investors’ input, but also to give a voice to your employees and people that work with your organization."

Vargas adds that diverse boards and management teams can lead to a broader range of perspectives, which has significant upside in both recognizing risk and opportunity.

This is certainly a topic that investors will keep an eye on in the near future, and Nasdaq’s audience polling shows that 53 percent of respondents see their investors as the primary drivers behind their companies’ ESG reporting and engagement. A further 33 percent of respondents said that the board and management team were the primary drivers.

Vargas acknowledges that many issuers are still wondering about which ESG metrics are most important to their investors, and some struggle to differentiate the ESG alphabet soup of SASB, GRI, TCFD, CDP and other reporting frameworks and guidelines. "For many people, [ESG reporting] still feels like the Wild Wild West, with many different frameworks to choose from," Vargas says. This will be particularly apparent this year, due to the extra focus on social issues – which has previously been the most underreported ESG area.

Vargas adds that IR teams can find a lot of useful information in investor stewardship reports, many of which have recently been published or will be published imminently. These can provide actionable insight into the engagement preferences and ESG priorities of investors, as determined by their clients and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well advice for which reporting frameworks are preferred. ‘Investors are forming more of a perspective, so it’s helpful to know what your shareholder base thinks about these issues,’ Vargas explains.

This is particularly helpful for the 50 percent of event attendees that said that their company hasn’t published a corporate sustainability report in the past. Vargas notes that many small and mid cap companies are striving to improve their ESG disclosures, but don’t necessarily have the resources or a dedicated sustainability team to help.

With this in mind, Vargas recommends that IR teams collaborate with other internal departments to assist with ESG reporting and engagement. Many IR teams have been forming closer bonds with their counterparts in the general counsel and corporate secretary’s offices, in addition to sustainability teams where applicable. Noting investors’ increased focus on social issues this year, Vargas recommends that IR teams build deeper relationships with leaders of another key function. "In IR, you need as many allies as possible, and working with HR is a great way to strategize around a story about your people," Vargas explains.

(Source: www.nasdaq.com)

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