BPC Launches New ESG Task Force to Advance Environmental, Social, and Governance Issues
Washington, DC – The Bipartisan Policy Center is creating a new ESG Task Force comprised of industry leaders that bring real world experience and their shared commitment to advance and implement environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.
Investors are increasingly considering ESG factors in their investment decision-making, which has led to an increased need for ESG data, analysis, investment products, and standards bodies and in turn has led to a series of complex regulatory questions. While ESG efforts have been underway for years in the private sector, the government—and particularly the Congress—has comparably little experience working on these issues.
The Biden administration has already demonstrated interest in a larger government role in guiding, regulating, and potentially mandating a range of ESG frameworks and obligations. Additionally, U.S. companies already have an eye toward Europe, which has moved farther down the road of new corporate governance rules.
The ESG Task Force will work to educate and engage policy makers on a variety of ESG-related topics, including climate concerns, ESG-related disclosures, ESG rating and ranking systems, and shareholder proposals. BPC is uniquely positioned to create the collaborative bipartisan forum required for substantive discussion of these complex issues.
S&P Global President and CEO Douglas L. Peterson has agreed to lead the BPC ESG Task Force.
“The BPC ESG task force will be a trusted and diverse source of knowledge and best practices on how companies are trying to meet new demands for information and better assess their own exposure to ESG-related risks and opportunities,” said Peterson. “I am pleased to help lead a second BPC effort because BPC is the right organization to facilitate a public-private sector dialogue and provide balanced information to decision-makers, overcome partisan battle lines, and help chart productive ways forward.”
“There is a compelling national and global ambition to enable—and in some cases—require the investor community and private industry to pursue ESG goals. BPC is working to engage the detailed public policy issues that must be resolved to translate bold ambition into effective action,” said BPC President Jason Grumet.
The task force will hold its next public event on April 27th, with an in-depth look at corporate climate disclosures.