Q2 | Torys Quarterly • Spring 2023
Bringing ESG back down to earth

Cut through the increasing noise around ESG by returning to the fundamentals of business strategy.

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Featuring our latest thinking on:

Operations

ESG demands alignment across all arms of business to set targets and policies and respond to the opportunities and risks emerging as ESG goes mainstream.

Directors’ Q&A: boards and ESG
Preeminent corporate leaders Colleen Johnston and Lorraine Mitchelmore discuss how today’s boards are approaching their ESG responsibilities.
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  • Aligning executive compensation with ESG goals
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  • The Canadian DEI class actions landscape: best practices for employers
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  • Shareholder litigation and corporate ESG policy: ClientEarth v the directors of Shell plc
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Set the ESG agenda in relation to what makes sense for the organization. Don’t go through the motions but really decide what defines your future success and a statement of values for you as an organization.
— Directors’ Q&A: Boards and ESG

Disclosure and reporting

For many businesses, ESG reporting will transcend historical dimensions of disclosure as well as jurisdictional borders, including both risks to supply chains and standards trailblazed in other jurisdictions.

Climate change reporting: are you ready?
As reporting frameworks move forward at varying speeds and stages, public companies are taking steps to adapt in a fast-evolving area of disclosure.
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  • EU sustainability rules: ESG disclosure and supply chain due diligence regulations affecting non-EU companies
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  • The “S” in ESG: Canadian law increasingly looks abroad
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In the EU, there is no let-up on the horizon in the pace of change and complexity in the ESG regulatory sphere … These regulatory developments do not only affect EU companies, but also non-EU companies with businesses operating in the EU.
— EU sustainability rules: ESG disclosure and supply chain due diligence regulations affecting non-EU companies

Performance

ESG is by now an essential area of focus for transactions of all kinds. Deals are now being challenged by diverse and competing corporate and investment objectives.

Increasing ESG focus in M&A transactions
We are in a new era of dealmaking where parties look to ESG to play an integrated role in creating value throughout the transaction and beyond.
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  • Fund sponsors juggling ESG in private market investing
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  • Market practice for sustainability-linked loans continues its evolution
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  • Navigating risk as carbon markets mature
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ESG considerations play an increasingly important role in buyers’ selection and assessment of transaction opportunities. Beyond general factors, buyers are incorporating ESG factors into their financial modeling in determining target valuation.
— Increasing ESG focus in M&A transactions

Industry focus

Getting granular to map context-specific applications of ESG by both industry and enterprise will be key to staying competitive as sectors respond to new opportunities and risks.

Nuclear energy’s place in the green economy: emerging trends
As the promise of nuclear continues to grow, we examine three areas of opportunity for this second-largest source of low-carbon electricity.
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  • A “positive” feedback loop: ESG and critical minerals and the mining sector
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  • Indigenous involvement in major projects: 3 best practices to thrive in the evolving projects ecosystem
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Even in challenged capital markets, there remains broad investor support for companies involved in the production of minerals that are critical to the energy transition.
— A “positive” feedback loop: ESG and critical minerals and the mining sector

Past Editions

Quarterly
Q3 | Summer 2024: U.S. business and the 2024 election
 
Jul 24, 2024
Quarterly
Q2 | Spring 2024: The governance issue
 
May 30, 2024
Quarterly
Q1 | Winter 2024: 2024 outlook: Canadian innovators and investors look ahead
 
Jan 16, 2024

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