Will corporate America retool its approach to sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and disclosures after a leading industry group released a new vision of the purpose of a corporation? More than 180 CEOs signed on to a Business Roundtable (BRT) statement that corporations should commit to serving the interests of all stakeholders—employees, customers, suppliers and the communities where they do business. For this last stakeholder, they publicly agreed to “protect the environment by embracing sustainable practices across our businesses.”
The BRT’s purpose statement is aspirational, and does not spell out any particular steps for companies to ...