ESG: Algumas Leituras para Reflex?o (Parte 1)

No PFCC da Board Academy Br Board Partners | Board Academy Board Club Farias Souza, BOARD Marcelo Simonato Diogenes Carvalho Lima Eduardo Gomes, MBA, CCA IBGC Sergio Wuensche Catarina Pohl Udo Kurt Gierlich , tivemos uma palestra sobre ESG, ministrada por Francine Póvoa. Como entusiasta da Economia Circular e pelo assunto parecer de senso comum, mas que n?o necessariamente o é, permitam a este que vos escreve voltar no tempo 30 anos, em Outubro/Novembro de 1994, quando cursava o mestrado em engenharia industrial com ênfase em transportes na PUC-Rio.

Nossa turma de Transportes, juntamente com as turmas de Gerência da Produ??o e Finan?as (as 3 turmas do mestrado em engenharia industrial da PUC-Rio, naquela época), teve que escolher uma disciplina do mestrado em Administra??o ou no mestrado em Economia para cumprir "créditos externos ao curso". Este autor e vários outros colegas escolhemos a disciplina de Negocia??o e Tomada de Decis?o, no mestrado em Administra??o. Um trabalho de formato livre e focado em tomada de decis?o foi proposto pelo professor; assim, mergulhei de cabe?a numa área que estava estudando na época (e que, a partir daí, me apaixonei e continuo trabalhando até hoje): questionários e entrevistas como fontes para constru??o de mosaicos com mapas mentais e tendências de pensamentos/negócios/tecnologias (tanto neste mestrado na PUC-Rio, como no doutorado na COPPE/UFRJ e no pós-doc na PUC-SP, empreguei questionários e entrevistas à exaust?o; ambos mostraram-se fontes riquíssimas e inesgotáveis de conhecimentos, aprendizados, mapas mentais, inova??o e, n?o raras vezes, disrup??es de todas as magnitudes, nas mais diversas áreas).

Escolhi um tema que, aparentemente, era de senso comum (tal como ESG parece hoje) e guardava toda rela??o com tomada de decis?o (ou, pelo menos, pensava que guardava, uma vez que o professor n?o gostou nada dos resultados dos questionários!). Desta forma, em lembran?a a este episódio em particular e numa ótima oportunidade de ressaltar a riqueza que é se trabalhar com questionários e entrevistas, resolvi fazer um exercício semelhante ao de 1994, desta vez tendo ESG como tema central.

Neste sentido, assim que tiver finalizado a coleta de respostas e contribui??es livres escritas dos executivos brasileiros e estrangeiros participantes, publicarei um texto detalhando a pesquisa, aqui neste espa?o. O título será o mesmo, sendo a "Parte 2".

Enquanto isso, o texto de hoje tem abordagem distinta dos anteriores sobre o PFCC: apontarei alguns estudos e contribui??es sobre ESG e temas correlatos, sem fazer referência direta a pontos específicos da palestra.

1) "A pesquisa deste ano mostra que a preocupa??o dos CEOs com a continuidade de seus negócios aumentou, mesmo após iniciarem mudan?as importantes. Embora estejam mais otimistas em rela??o ao crescimento econ?mico global do que no ano passado, 41% dos respondentes no Brasil (45% no mundo) continuam n?o acreditando que suas organiza??es sobreviver?o por mais de dez anos se mantiverem o rumo atual – um aumento de oito pontos percentuais no Brasil e seis no mundo. Os CEOs sabem que suas abordagens precisam ser mais ousadas hoje e no futuro e, apesar de os riscos serem altos, reconhecem a urgência das mudan?as e a necessidade de gerar resultados sustentáveis para os stakeholders e a sociedade. Para esclarecer quais s?o os desafios e as oportunidades associadas à transforma??o mais profunda dos negócios, organizamos a edi??o deste ano em três se??es:

• O imperativo da reinven??o: a situa??o da economia e a apreens?o dos CEOs em rela??o à viabilidade de longo prazo de seus modelos de negócio.
• Transforma??o vital iminente: o status de duas megatendências – mudan?as climáticas e disrup??o tecnológica (exemplificada pela IA generativa) – que tendem a impulsionar ainda mais reinven??o.
• Seu roteiro de reinven??o: iniciativas essenciais que as empresas podem adotar para estimular a reinven??o contínua."

--- "27a CEO Survey: Prosperando na era da reinven??o contínua: à medida em que as amea?as à sobrevivência convergem, muitas empresas agem para se reinventar. é suficiente? E o que é preciso para ter sucesso?", publicado em Janeiro/2024 no portal da PwC Brasil 普华永道 em https://www.pwc.com.br/pt/estudos/preocupacoes-ceos/ceo-survey-2024.html

2) "(...) Changing regulations and other pressing global economic matters are CEOs’ biggest challenges in delivering their ESG strategies. CEOs are also increasingly aware there is a lack of an accepted global framework for measuring and disclosing ESG performance (14 percent, up from 7 percent in August 2021). While regulation concerns remain high, this may highlight how global governments and regulators need to work together to align around ESG requirements." (...) "CEOs are also making the link to digital transformation: 74 percent say their organizations’ digital and ESG strategic investments are inextricably linked. With CEOs increasingly accountable to their supply chains and reporting to broader stakeholders, their success is dependent on their digital systems. Where does the business source their raw materials? Do they know their suppliers’ human-rights records? Multinational organizations need to focus more broadly on ESG — and into all the shadows cast by the organization."

--- "Great ESG expectations: CEOs are balancing their need to build resilient ESG plans with the possibility of having to reconsider their approaches", publicado em 2023 no portal da KPMG Internacional 毕马威 KPMG em https://kpmg.com/xx/en/home/insights/2022/08/kpmg-2022-ceo-outlook/esg-and-diversity-trends.html

3) "(...) CEOs ranked geopolitics and political uncertainty as the top risk to growth over the next three years, followed by operational issues and emerging/disruptive technology. AI seen as a competitive advantage. Over 70% of global CEOs are investing in generative AI, citing increased profitability as the number one benefit to implementing generative AI within a company. ESG issues are crucial to long-term corporate strategies. 69% of CEOs state they have fully embedded ESG into their business to create value and that they are taking a more outcomes-based approach to ESG. While CEOs reported they are still years away from seeing a return on investment, 24% believe ESG will have the greatest impact on their relationship with customers. (...)"

--- "KPMG Survey: CEOs on Geopolitics, ESG, AI, Return-to-Work", publicado em Outubro/2023 no portal da HR Policy Association em https://www.hrpolicy.org/insight-and-research/resources/2023/hr-workforce/public/10/kpmg-ceo-outlook/

4) "(...) 72 per cent of company bosses say they are making one or more changes in how they operate in response to the recent 'politicisation' of ESG. According to the survey, 28 per cent of CEOs say they have become more cautious about which ESG topics they will engage in. The same proportion say they have spent more time listening to employees and customers to determine which issues matter to them. Meanwhile, almost half – 45 per cent – of chief executives surveyed say they are continuing to do what they believe is right but are discussing it less outside the business. (...)"

--- "Most CEOs sticking with ESG but making changes - Teneo report", publicado em Dezembro/2023 no portal PR Week em https://www.prweek.com/article/1851590/ceos-sticking-esg-making-changes-%E2%80%93-teneo-report

5) "Across government departments, corporate board rooms and management meetings, the implementation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies is at the forefront of current planning. It is not just a symbolic tick in the box either. Shareholders and investors are increasingly factoring ESG strategy and trajectory into their decision-making, and consumers are similarly becoming more aware of the fairness and sustainability of the goods they use, the clothes they wear and the services they pay for. This is equally true for prospective international investors who are looking more closely at the ESG environment, regulations and incentives of the countries in which they are considering doing business."

--- "ESG CEO Survey: Is the board room getting greener?", publicado em 2022 no portal da Oxford Business Group em https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/ceo-surveys/esg-ceo-survey-is-the-board-room-getting-greener/

6) "(...) the titans of investment management claim that more than a third of their assets, or $35 trillion in total, are monitored through one ESG lens or another. It is on the lips of bosses and officials everywhere. You might hope that big things would come from this. You would be wrong. Sadly those three letters have morphed into shorthand for hype and controversy. (...)"

--- "ESG: Three letters that won’t save the planet", publicado na The Economist, edi??o de 21/07/2022 e disponível no portal do periódico em https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/07/21/esg-should-be-boiled-down-to-one-simple-measure-emissions

7) "(...) Last month, when BlackRock BlackRock put $550mn into one of the world’s largest carbon capture projects in Texas, Fink focused on moneymaking potential rather than its contribution to the planet’s welfare. Describing it as “an incredible investment opportunity”, he also highlighted BlackRock’s decision to continue to work with big energy companies. (...) But there is also clear evidence of scepticism about the way sustainable investing has been marketed and carried out. Investor support for environmental and social shareholder proposals has fallen sharply; the flow of US money into ESG-labelled funds has slowed after poor performance; prominent financial groups including Allianz, Lloyd’s of London and Vanguard have pulled out of net zero alliances; and JPMorgan Chase has redefined its climate goals to move away from that benchmark. Even supporters of sustainable investing warn of “greenwashing”, in which money managers overstate the environmental impact of their investments. The backlash raises the question of how much longer funds advertising themselves as ESG will be on the menu for investors. Fink himself said in June he no longer used the term as it had become “weaponised”. (...)"

--- "The Real Impact of the ESG Backlash", publicado em Dezembro/2023 no Financial Times Financial Times e disponível na íntegra em https://www.ft.com/content/a76c7feb-7fa5-43d6-8e20-b4e4967991e7

8) "(...) A wave of discontent over sustainability policies is sweeping across the Atlantic, making green growth harder and putting the leaders and financiers who are fighting to implement environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies under pressure. And the upcoming U.S. election will not make life any easier for the companies that are navigating the powerful currents of anti-ESG lobbies. In Europe, the ardor for ESG regulations has somewhat cooled. (...) "Poorly devised communications around ESG investing have contributed to weakening the movement toward a responsible and forward-looking economy." (...) "Financially illiterate environmental activism is also having a chilling effect on companies. For example, a parliamentary inquiry in France is scrutinizing the environmental commitments of energy giant TotalEnergies. With accusations of “greenhushing,” “greenwashing,” and “woke capitalism,” the three letters “ESG” have become synonymous with backlash. (...)"

--- "The anti-ESG backlash is not just an American phenomenon as Europe waters down its sustainability agenda", publicado em Fevereiro/2024 no portal do periódico Fortune Fortune e disponível na íntegra em https://fortune.com/europe/2024/02/22/anti-esg-backlash-america-europe-waters-down-sustainability-agenda-environment-politics/

9) "(...) ESG has become a highly polarizing, politicized term — seized upon by politicians who paint such policies as a threat to the voters and companies they represent — and the resulting backlash has been most visible in the United States, where anti-woke rhetoric and policies from far-right Republican states have all but made the ESG label a bit too hot for many companies to handle, at least overtly. While the political rhetoric has been less heated in Europe, there has been some backsliding on the policy front. The United Kingdom, for example, watered down many of its previous commitments to Net Zero, delayed energy efficiency requirements for residential properties, and failed to introduce a ban on fossil fuel vehicles. Many ESG advocates saw these actions as echoing the populist rhetoric of some anti-woke US politicians. Separately, the European Commission has delayed the introduction of sector-specific reporting under its Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD) after its president said she intended to slash European Union reporting requirements by 25%. (...)"

--- "ESG: Navigating Against the Noise: New white paper examines current state of ESG activity and backlash around the globe", publicado em Dezembro/2023 no portal da agência Thomson-Reuters 汤森路透 e disponível na íntegra em https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/esg/esg-navigating-past-the-noise/

10) "Earlier this month, several leading U.S. financial institutions withdrew from Climate Action 100+, an international coalition of money managers committed to pushing large companies to address climate issues. Their withdrawal is the most recent episode in a growing trend of Wall Street retreating from earlier environmental commitments amid rising political divisions and financial pressures. This trend is mirrored in Europe, where a green backlash is also emerging." (...) "Other retrenchments include decisions by major banks not to pursue a commitment to stop financing new coal mines, to cease publishing the exact energy mix included in investment portfolios, and to renew relationships with states that have criticized ESG-related initiatives. Support for ESG-related policies in proxy voting – once a major arena for activist investors to push sustainable priorities – has dropped significantly as asset managers have become more wary of supporting potentially political initiatives. A study by the Sustainable Investments Institute found that average support for “liberal” shareholder proposals has dropped from 33% in 2021 to 22% in 2023, with the biggest drop in climate-related questions. Investors are also increasingly removing ESG identification from their funds (...)"

--- "ESG Backlash in the U.S. and Europe: Shifting Sentiments and Regulations", publicado pelo escritório Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP [https://www.bradley.com/] em Mar?o/2024 e disponível no portal LEXOLOGY em https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=5ba57eb9-54b8-4ade-bead-3350f7ce5b10

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