– Provide robust disclosure. Provide more robust entity-specific disclosure concerning their ESG practices, including issuers’ corporate and social purpose and specific risks to achieving those long- term objectives and goals (including foreseeable crises that could undermine those plans). – Promote long-term viability. Develop and implement (and articulate to stakeholders) sustainability strategies to maximize the long-term continuity, resilience and viability of their businesses, including with regard to issuers’ corporate purpose. Investors Sharpen Focus on ESG In January 2020, BlackRock, Inc. announced that: (1) in recognition of the impact that climate- related risks can have on a company’s profitability, sustainability will become BlackRock’s new investment standard; (2) BlackRock will continue to remove from its discretionary active investment portfolios the public securities of companies that generate more than 25% of their revenues from thermal coal production; and (3) BlackRock intends to make no future direct investments in those companies. 175 In July 2020, BlackRock confirmed that thus far in 2020 it had identified 244 companies that were not making sufficient progress to adequately address climate risk, 176 and that it has consequently taken voting action against 53 of those companies, with the remainder being placed on a watch list.
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Governance Insights 2020
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