The Nickel Report

Hunton Andrews Kurth lawyers Aaron Flynn and David McSweeney discuss corporate management of external stakeholder interests in environmental social and governance issues, including climate change concerns and associated legal risks that can become presented.

In his annual letter to CEOs, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock expressed his belief that climate change and sustainability were important considerations in investment risk assessments. Investment based on these concepts is often captured under Environmental, Social and Governance Criteria, commonly called ESG. In his letter, Mr. Fink emphasized that he believes “we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance.”

BlackRock’s letter builds on the ever-advancing trend in corporate institutional investing over the past decade regarding the examination of corporate valuation and investment risk within the context of ESG issues, otherwise referred to as sustainable investing.

On June 24, 2019, the Equator Principles Association announced the release of the draft text of the fourth revision of the Equator Principles. Known as EP4, this document includes a number of changes intended to address perceived shortcomings regarding the manner in which the current framework is applied to different countries and to enhance the focus on issues such as climate change. These changes reflect the evolving nature of transactional diligence with respect to environment, social and governance (ESG) issues.