Sustainability Now

As the 2019 Novel Coronavirus spreads with worrying speed, we debate the applicability of ESG when it comes to discussing infectious disease and short‐term pandemics; and after the EU watchdog says ESG rating firms allow companies to be greenwashed, we discuss what it even means for a company to be considered "green ".

Companies are finding they can now be guilty by association and attract the ire of stakeholders for something as simple as a railway. Siemens found this out after it invested a relatively small amount in a signaling system for a railway that connected a coal mine in Australia. Many of Siemens' stakeholders descended, and it got so bad that both the CEO and Chairman of the company had to weigh...

Amazon employees publicly shamed the company over its Amazon Web Services' connection with oil and gas companies and US federal agencies. But how does a web service company work with an oil and gas company? And does this mean Jeff Bezos won't be able to keep his pledge with the Business Roundtable?

ConocoPhillips partnered with Aboriginal groups in Australia to implement a carbon offset program. It is innovative and considers more stakeholders than just shareholders, but there is debate around the effectiveness of carbon offsets. And heavy carbon emitters that rely on carbon offsets to cut their emissions might be setting themselves and their stakeholders up for failure.

This week we discuss The World Economic Forum's finding that, for the first time in its 15-year history, the climate crisis fills the top 5 risks global leader believe our world will face in the coming decade, and then Siyu Liu and Andrew Young explain how the new California Consumer Privacy Act will change how tech companies can collect and monopolize our personal data.

This week we discuss how insurance companies address the physical risks and business risks caused by climate disasters such as the wildfires in Australia, then Andrew Young joins us to give his hot 2020 take on how social media will drop the ball during the US election year.

This week we discuss our new report on the progress companies have made toward gender diversity after Intel decides to release all its pay data to the public, and Ric Marshall joins us to discuss what happens we an oligopoly fails.

This week we discuss how automakers in the EU are under pressure to lower emissions while European customers continue to buy more and more SUVs, and Velina Karadzhova and Ric Marshall join us to discuss energy power Drax's net ‐negative 10 year carbon emissions plan (9:39) and Exxon's victory over the New York state attorney (12:24).

From smart watches to smart TVs and connected homes, today's hackers are increasingly spoilt for choice. For the healthcare sector, hacking pacemakers isn't just the stuff of TV fantasy (4:07). Automakers may have traded the upsides of safety and convenience for more hackable cars (9:23). But it's in telecoms that the true shape of hacking risks emerge, not in devices, but in the da...

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: Temporary, part‐time, contracted out, or contingent work arrangements are creating risks for investors across the entire economy as companies face liabilities for a workforce they don't want to claim (0:53). And then Ric Marshall and Umar Ashfaq joins us to discuss the founders of Google stepping down (12:27) and a report by an insurance industry group...

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: Antibiotic resistance ‐ the ability of germs to defeat the drugs designed to kill them ‐ is one of the greatest public health challenges of our time; but as the crisis grows what will happen to the companies that produce antibiotics (0:54)? And then Mario Lopez‐Alcala tells us which companies are slowing the transition to a deforestation free supply chain in...

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: SoftBank decided all the wild and crazy founders its Vision Fund is investing in need some rules of operation (0:37), and then Siyu Liu warns us about all the data streaming‐companies must now protect (16:07), all through an ESG lens.

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: Ken Bertsch, the executive director of Council of Institutional Investors and an all‐knowing proxy god joins Ric Marshall and Mike Disabato to discuss the new rule by the SEC to limit shareholder engagement (0:37), and then we get two hot takes by our analysts on Boeing and Saudi Aramco (12:23), all through an ESG lens.

Investors have witnessed an exodus from the private prison industry but what is the core function of a private prison ‐ is it to help prisoners? Is it to help the government? Or is it to help investors? In act 1, we look at how the growth of the 80s helped build the prisons of the 2000s (2:55). In act 2, we discuss how private prisons became interwoven into our society. In act 3, we discuss the is...

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: The Attorney General of New York alleges that Exxon first calculated the risks posed by climate change but then freaked out and suppressed the data, an accusation that might change how companies disclosure their data on climate risks far into the future (0:46), and then our cartography expert Gillian Mollod discusses new data on sea level rise and how it mig...

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: A SPECIAL GUEST joins us to discuss how shareholders should deal with Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg as the founder continues his PR campaign (1:42), and then Meggin Eastman discusses the relevance of Intel's plan to release pay and gender pay data (13:22), all through an ESG lens.

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: There are power cuts throughout South Africa after its largest utility Eskom has a number of generating units break down which has threatened the country's economy (0:41), and Andrew Young gives us a quick update on the issue with private prisons as a business model (10:45), all on the record.

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: 3M and DuPont failed to disclose their findings on the hazardous impact and proliferation of PFAS (0:40), and Hong Kongers are leaving Hong Kong for everywhere but the U.S.(10:11), all on the record.

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: The Council of Institutional Investors recommendation that investors check their CEOs pay packages (0:42), and then we discuss the continuing physical risk to real estate posed by climate change (12:52), all on the record.

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: The different tools available to investors to address ESG risks (0:39), and Thomas Cook collapses into liquidation stranding hundreds of thousands (10:09), all on the record.

Those Facebook workers are actually contractors (1:16), it is not just Facebook because everyone uses temporary workers in vital company roles (2:00), this is bifurcating the workforce and some are taking advantage (4:30), if you want to see how this can affect a society just go to Japan (9:32), this might be a canary in the mine for other countries (14:14), and investors are beginning to take not...

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: The United Auto Workers go on strike at GM (0:57), and Australia rejects a coal mine due to long‐term health effects (10:58), all on the record.

Note! This is a re-released version with one detail corrected about nuclear power generation. Two stories this week with ESG glasses: Nuclear energy and its role in the low-carbon future (0:42), and California rules contract workers are employees for app-based companies (11:58), all on the record.

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: Companies selling data have difficulties keeping data private (0:43), and Germany bans glyphosate usage (9:06), all on the record.

Two stories this week with ESG glasses: Johnson & Johnson's brand wavers as the opioid crisis comes home (1:10), and the fashion industry tries to lower its waste (11:09), all on the record.