“We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.”

This new addition to BlackRock’s corporate governance and proxy voting guidelines shifts ESG from “an afterthought to a strategic imperative” for boards, says Helle Bank Jorgensen, a globally recognized sustainability, climate change, and ESG expert.

To help board members keep pace, Jorgensen founded Competent Boards to give current and future directors an online platform to learn from global experts and each other. The end goal is for board members to “get the tools to get the insight to get the foresight they need to make better decisions and make their companies more resilient.”

In this episode, podcast co-host Meghan Day talks to Jorgensen about ESG, boards, and expectations today, drawing from Jorgensen’s experience advising companies from Maersk to Unilever, serving as a board facilitator for the UN Global Compact Board Program and serving on the expert panel for His Royal Highness Prince of Wales’ Accounting for Sustainability Project. (“The closest to royalty I’m going to get,” Day jokes.)