Library | ESG issues
Corporate Strategy
Corporate strategy involves the comprehensive plan a company employs to achieve its long-term objectives, encompassing decisions on resource allocation, market participation, and competitive positioning. Integrating sustainability into corporate strategy enables organisations to create long-term stakeholder value. This approach offers advantages such as enhancing brand value, meeting consumer demands, increasing efficiency, attracting top talent, and opening new market opportunities.
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Navigating capital strategies for impact: Through assets, markets, systems
This report introduces an orientation matrix to help investors navigate impact strategies through the lenses of assets, markets, and systems. It categorises investor intent and contribution mechanisms—signalling, engagement, market growth, and financial flexibility—illustrated by case studies from pension funds, ethical banks, and family offices.
Leverage points: Places to intervene in a system
Donella Meadows explores twelve leverage points for intervening in complex systems, ranked by effectiveness. She argues that while common interventions focus on parameters like taxes, higher-level systemic changes—such as shifting goals, paradigms, or information flows—offer significantly more transformative power for addressing global challenges and improving organisational resilience.
The state of ESG 2026
Malk Partners’ fourth annual report examines ESG trends across private markets in 2026. It identifies a disconnect where strong LP and GP ambitions face capacity constraints at the portfolio-company level. Key themes include the growth of Responsible AI, decarbonisation strategies, and shifting regulatory landscapes in the US and Europe.
How are CEOs fired?
Research into S&P 1500 firms reveals CEOs are significantly more likely to be dismissed when their firm is the worst performer within directors' interlocked board networks. These benchmarked dismissals often lead to post-turnover performance declines and negative market reactions, suggesting they stem from cognitive heuristics rather than value-enhancing monitoring.
Jobs and skills for the new economy: An Action Agenda for a people-centred climate transition
This report presents an Action Agenda for a people-centred climate transition. It identifies a potential net gain of 375 million jobs over the next decade, balanced against significant labour market churn. It outlines 10 recommendations across intentionality, innovation, and investment to prioritise human capital in climate strategies.
Returns to shareholder activism: Evidence from a clinical study of the Hermes U.K. Focus Fund
This research analyses the Hermes U.K. Focus Fund, demonstrating how private shareholder activism generates significant abnormal returns. By investigating internal data, it finds that targeted engagements—including management replacement and corporate restructuring—account for 90% of fund returns, substantially outperforming market benchmarks through private rather than public interventions.
Energy transition strategy 2024
This report details Shell's updated strategy to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. It highlights progress towards 2030 targets, including halving operational emissions and reducing net carbon intensity. The plan prioritises investments in LNG, biofuels, electric vehicle charging, and carbon capture, supported by a 10-15 billion dollar low-carbon budget.
Financial institution net-zero transition plans: Fundamentals, recommendations, and guidance
This report provides a voluntary framework for financial institutions to develop science-based net-zero transition plans. It introduces ten components across five themes, focusing on four financing strategies — climate solutions, aligned entities, aligning entities, and managed phaseout — to support the 1.5°C-aligned real-economy transition.
Value-up initiatives as a strategy for corporate governance and capital market development: Lessons from Asia
This report analyses Asian "value-up initiatives" designed to address persistent valuation discounts. Through case studies of Japan, Korea, and Singapore, it evaluates how these programmes use disclosure and reputational pressure to improve capital allocation. While enhancing transparency, they serve as complements to, not substitutes for, fundamental investor protection.
Competitive by nature: Europe's long-term competitiveness through the lens of sustainability
This report examines Europe’s long-term competitiveness through a sustainability lens, identifying strategic 'no-regret' options for 2040. It concludes that economic resilience and environmental sustainability are interdependent, requiring circularity, investment in resilient infrastructure, and technological sovereignty to maintain prosperity amidst geopolitical fragmentation and climate instability.
Beyond climate: What matters most to business in Australia and New Zealand
This research analyses materiality assessment practices across 266 organisations in Australia and New Zealand. Key findings identify health, safety, and wellbeing as top priorities. While most organisations consider double materiality impacts, a significant gap remains in disclosing stakeholder engagement methods and how findings influence strategic decision-making.
Systems Change Learning Handbook
The Systems Change Learning Handbook is a digital resource by the School of System Change. it offers frameworks, tools, and methodologies to help professionals understand and navigate complex systemic challenges, including environmental and economic transitions.
How businesses are sustaining human rights progress in a rapidly changing world
This report outlines strategies for businesses to embed human rights into core operations despite geopolitical and economic volatility. It highlights how evolving legislation and strategic internal repositioning can transform human rights into a strategic priority, utilising data-driven narratives and cross-functional alliances to sustain progress in a rapidly changing world.
Adaptation planning for business: Navigating uncertainty to build long-term resilience
This report provides a framework for businesses to build climate resilience through strategic adaptation planning. It details a four-step process—scoping, designing, implementing, and monitoring—to manage physical risks and unlock opportunities. Integrating these efforts into core operations is essential for protecting long-term value and competitive advantage.
Conceptual framework for sustainability risk integration
This report presents a jurisdiction-neutral framework for integrating sustainability risks into bank management. Treating sustainability as a transversal risk driver, it outlines seven core elements including risk strategy, governance, and appetite. Data shows 90 per cent of surveyed banks seek such a structured approach to bridge implementation gaps.
AI deployment in sustainability solutions: How AI is moving from features to workflows across software, data, and advisory companies
This report explores AI adoption within sustainability solution providers, finding that 83% of organisations utilise AI internally. While LLMs dominate, the sector is shifting from standalone features toward integrated workflows. Primary constraints include data security, though 96% of providers maintain human oversight to ensure auditable and reliable outcomes.
