Why ESG is so important for the future of mobility

GUESTS: Lance Bultena, Hogan Lovells, and Pierre Lahutte, Navya

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Climate change, diversity, and human rights are three of the leading ESG issues, and they feed into one of the core aspects of contemporary business development, namely sustainability. And in the wake of COP26, Covid-19, and now the war that Russia is waging on Ukraine, sustainability is both more important than ever, and arguably more difficult to deliver than ever.

For the best part of two decades, ESG - which stands for Environment, Social, and Governance - has played an increasingly important role in shareholder reporting. But now ESG has become an essential aspect of corporate strategy as business moves from pure shareholder capitalism into stakeholder capitalism, which considers everyone the business touches, rather than just the shareholders.

The term ESG was coined in 2004 by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan; a year later, a study was published titled, “Who cares Wins” - and that sums up this discussion perfectly. Get it right, and ESG can deliver improved financial performance, higher value delivery, and reduced stock price volatility in a world where the rise in ESG investment has been what McKinsey describes as "meteoric."

ESG has been referred to as the latest evolution of CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility - the difference between the two being that while CSR is intended to make a company accountable for its efforts, ESG makes a company’s efforts measurable.

This episode of Ride: The Urban Mobility Podcast is all about ESG, what it is, and why it’s so important for future mobility stakeholders.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Lance D. Bultena is Global Director of Thought Leadership, Mobility and Transportation at Hogan Lovells.

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Pierre LaHutte is Chief Strategy & Development Officer at Navya. He's also a Board Member at Forsee Power, FRIEM and Groupe BERTO, and Co-Founder of AMILU FARM

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