Founder and former CEO of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, Jean Rogers, reflects on the first seven years of SASB, on the occasion of its incorporation into the ISSB. — Originally published April 29, 2019 in The Reporting Times, the Center for Corporate Reporting, Zurich, Switzerland, May 2019 Our creation story begins in an unlikely place: Vermillion, South Dakota. For those who have traversed the American midwest, South Dakota conjures up images of surreal striated sandstone and clay ravines as…

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum in Davos this year (2019). A letter penned by a hedge fund manager, Seth Klarman, generated buzz amongst attendees. Mr. Klarman runs the Baupost Group, an asset management firm famous for both its value investing style as well as the…

SHINE Medical’s Strategy to Level-Up Humanity The United Nations garden in NY hosts an oxidized bronze statue of a man holding a hammer in one hand and, in the other, a sword which he is making into a plough share. This allegory dates to biblical times, symbolizing man’s desire to…

The next frontier of ESG investing This summer, with wildfires raging to the north, south and east of my home in California, my family and I found ourselves simultaneously sheltering from the coronavirus pandemic and preparing to evacuate at a moment’s notice. The fact that we understood the risks we were facing did not actually mitigate…

These simple acts separate businesses that thrive from those that merely survive — The shocks to our society and economy from the coronavirus pandemic highlight the value of companies that can withstand and recover from unfortunate events, unexpected disruptions and rapid change. Resilience can get us through hard times, but it’s more than the ability to respond to a crisis or setback. It’s…

These steps can improve your company’s standing with socially responsible investors — The coronavirus pandemic has brought the global economy to a standstill but seems unlikely to slow the rise of socially responsible investing. Investors in the U.S. …

Companies can change the world for the better, provided that investors and markets support them — Last year, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere topped the record level of 407.8 parts per million set in 2018. At the same time, investment funds with a focus on sustainability pulled in $20.6 …

The value is in the doing — Thanks to the work of investors, advocates, policymakers and companies, management of environmental and social capital have come to be recognized as legitimate determinants of corporate performance. Yet the challenge remains: How to move beyond disclosures about sustainability to moving the needle on performance? …