Maintaining a positive image for shareholders is crucial for publicly-traded companies. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is a criterion that more and more investors are examining, and PESA Members are focusing on.
ESG is the set of standards socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments. Environmental criteria look at how a company performs as a steward of nature. Social criteria examine how a company manages relationships with employees, suppliers, customers and the communities where it operates. Governance deals with a company’s leadership, executive pay, audit, internal controls and shareholder rights.
To help Member Companies address ESG and increase their appeal to investors, PESA’s ESG Committee met on February 28 to develop strategies for 2019. Jock Pool, Director of Compliance, Oceaneering, and Valerie Banner, Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Exterran, chaired the meeting.
Members agreed the focus of the committee needs to be educating PESA Members on ESG and how companies can address these criteria. Committee member Marie Caekebeke, Director Global Social Sustainability, Schlumberger, shared her experience on the recent PESA Washington DC Fly-In, where every office her team visited asked about environmental and sustainability efforts within the industry. Climate change is in the forefront of every discussion in Washington, and it’s imperative that industry share the story that although record levels of oil and gas are being extracted, it’s being accomplished in an environmentally responsible way, and the industry continues to seek best practices to continue to improve.
For those companies still focused on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), committee member Jennifer Cutaia, Vice President, Corporate Responsibility & Global Community Impact, Baker Hughes, a GE company, encouraged a shift of thinking to ESG. While CSR initially provided companies the opportunity to self-regulate and report on corporate sustainability, ESG has evolved as the criteria of choice for investors. Sustainability is a big issue for today’s college graduates; this generation wants to work for companies that are environmentally and socially conscious.
The ESG committee plans to host a luncheon where PESA Member Companies can learn more about ESG and how to develop a program. The committee will also compile information from Member companies who currently produce an ESG report.
For more information on how you can join the ESG Committee, contact PESA Vice President Government Affairs Tim Tarpley for more information.
ESG COMMITTEE MEMBER COMPANIES
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