Spencer Stuart and Diligent revealed the results of their recent survey of 590 directors at public (78%) and private (22%) companies worldwide (72% U.S.) about their boards’ ESG oversight practices.
Among the key takeaways as to U.S. respondents*:
- Board oversight structure - Board ESG oversight is almost evenly split between the full board (40%) and the Nominating/Governance Committee (39%), with the balance delegating responsibility to an ESG/Sustainability Committee (10%) or elsewhere.
- Integration of goals & metrics - Companies most commonly incorporate ESG goals and metrics into their strategic plan (68%), director appointments (50%), and integrated risk management plan (49%).
- Board ESG fluency - Boards most commonly look to outside consultants (41%), education/training (35%), and ESG-specific board effectiveness reviews (32%) to increase and maintain their ESG knowledge/expertise.
*The latter half of the report details important variations between public and private companies, non-US and US companies, and across industries. See pages 27 – 30 for additional information about the respondent demographics.
See Spencer Stuart’s release and additional resources on our Sustainability page.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!