Oversight of
Corporate Sustainability

In the past decade, sustainability has moved from the glossy pages of corporate social responsibility brochures to the black-and-white disclosures of the 10k. With this increase in strategic importance, external scrutiny, and governance mandates, sustainability has become a crucial topic on the board agenda.

Boardroom focus on sustainability is essential for companies to anticipate and address profound and intertwined changes in the economy, society, and the environment that affect their businesses. Companies face a radically changing workforce and talent landscape shaped by a reinvigorated labor movement, new workplace technologies, and the changing expectations of rising generations. New technologies, such as artificial intelligence and advances in facial recognition, not only promise to unleash innovation, but also hold the potential for massive economic disruption and impacts on human rights. Inequality continues to hold back human potential and harm individuals and communities. Geopolitical uncertainty and threats to democratic norms imperil global stability, freedom, and connectedness—along with the flow of trade and talent and ideas. The current and future impacts of climate change are highly disruptive: 3.6 billion people are already living in areas highly susceptible to climate change, and it is estimated that the global cost of climate change will be between $1.7 and $3.1 trillion every year by 2050.

Each of these developments creates major risks and presents opportunities to the economy as a whole, to industries and value chains, and to individual companies. This fact is increasingly recognized by governments, regulators, investors, and other stakeholders.