The ESG Report

ESG Stewardship with Ben Colton

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In this episode of the ESG Report, Tom Fox discusses ESG sustainability and stewardship. Guest Ben Colton explains how his company State Street Global is contributing to a better understanding and implementation of sustainability and stewardship practices for ESG.


Ben Colton is the Global Head of Asset Stewardship at State Street Global. The company is a steward of their clients' investments, and as such, he oversees proxy, voting, and engagement activities.


  • Sustainability provides opportunity. The low carbon economy will allow companies to refine their business models as they transition. They can then see sustainability as a differentiator, and see a shift in consumer behavior. Ben stresses however, that the discussion about brown vs green energy should not become polarized. How companies change in response to a low carbon economy will not be linear. 
  • Not having diversity is a business risk, especially at the board level. This speaks to flaws within your nomination processes. Ben stresses that it is important to ensure that members are widening their nomination pool, and allowing for a diverse set of candidates. 
  • It's time to start setting baseline expectations for carbon emissions and holding companies accountable for meeting them, Ben stresses. Companies need to be part of the solution. "Large oil and gas companies can be part of the solution. We can't polarize this discussion in brown versus green and just expect high emitting companies to just spin off all their assets to the private equity sector because that's what we're seeing and that's what we're really concerned about," he says. 
  • Diversity is a part of human capital management, and related to corporate culture. Diverse work environments encourage innovation, create a welcoming work environment, and encourage employee engagement.
  • Human capital management will be more important in the coming years and companies are going to be thinking about how they're integrating their employees' voices and feedback. 


    • KEY QUOTE

    “Having progressive diversity and inclusion practices will promote employee satisfaction.” - Ben Colton


    Resources

    Ben Colton on LinkedIn

    State Street Global Advisors

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    The ESG ReportBy Tom Fox