The end of August traditionally signifies a return to the office and all hands on deck for the remaining months of the year. 今年, as we adjust to our “new normal” and its endless amount of video calls, it is nevertheless important to sharpen our focus on what will be a critically important final quarter of 2020.
This will be a crucial time in our collective fight against the global pandemic – which still rages on in much of the world. These next months will also determine how we give meaning to “building forward better” in a post-COVID-19 world.
全球大流行病暴露了我们的相互依存关系, highlighted the stress we place on the environment and in many places greatly increased inequality. 因此，全球格局正在迅速变化. 企业的弹性方法, 目的, 社会和环境正受到质疑. The disconnect in the financial system between the financial return and the environmental and social impacts calls for a reinvention of capitalism.
自去年的商业圆桌会议声明以来, a lot of the conversations have been focusing on the shift from shareholder to stakeholder capitalism. 但是利益相关者资本主义在商业上还不现实. 我们没有共同的定义, 企业的预期并不明朗, 没有关于如何实现它的路线图, and much of the financial system architecture is still focused on (short-term) financial returns.
That being said, there are signs of progress in the stakeholder capitalism debate:
- 注重环保的公司, social and governance (ESG) factors continue to be perceived as better managed, 风险更小，价值更高即使是在这场危机中.
- Mark Carney and David Schwimmer have made it “one of COP26’s core objectives to ensure that every professional financial decision takes the risks and opportunities of climate change into account, supporting the widespread adoption of Task Force on 气候-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) reporting”.
- 英国和瑞士政府以及十家金融机构, 获水务署支持, 正在全力支持创建一个 与自然有关的财务披露专责小组 by joining an Informal Working Group that will lead to the creation of a TNFD in 2021. Establishing a reporting framework for finance sector impacts and dependencies on nature is seen as critical for halting biodiversity and ecosystem loss.
- 最后, there is now real momentum towards a globally harmonized system for ESG disclosures between all reporting frameworks (the Impact Management Project (IMP)) and the establishment of lead ESG indicators (by the 世界经济论坛 国际商业理事会).
WBCSD is taking a leading role in making the building forward for a better capitalism real and rewarding for business in three ways:
- Soon an issue brief on capitalism will be published as part of our Vision2050 Refresh work, that will make the case for the need to reinvent capitalism;
- 今天, we are launching a groundbreaking collaboration between WBCSD and PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment) that will drive corporate-investor action on sustainable development (请参阅此处的新闻稿);
- And WBCSD’s 正规博彩十大网站 program is offering new projects to support business in understanding and implementing stakeholder capitalism with tools and solutions.
The collaboration between WBCSD and PRI is adding a fundamental piece to the puzzle that will complement the move towards a globally harmonized system for ESG disclosure: how to change the engagement between business and investors in a way that will integrate sustainability in financial and strategic decision making. We will bring leading business and investors together to clarify what sustainability information is needed in the investor-corporate relationship, 企业和投资者如何协调激励措施, decision-making and valuation around sustainability; and lastly explore the institutional changes needed to integrate sustainability into the financial system.
We remain focused on creating a capital market that will recognize that more sustainable business will attract a lower cost of capital and generate more financial capital to lead the transformations towards a better world.
