ESG Strategy and Governance

Double materiality assessment provides a more comprehensive approach to identifying and assessing the issues of greatest significance to a business and its stakeholders. As well as considering the sustainability matters that affect enterprise value (financial materiality), it also considers the impacts and dependencies of a business on society and the environment (impact materiality), from which financial risks and opportunities arise. 

Done right, it isn't just part of the reporting process. It's a critical strategic tool, providing boards with valuable insights into where their businesses are exposed to risk, lack resilience and need to transform.  

That's why we recommend double materiality assessment, whether or not clients are subject to disclosure rules requiring it, and we work with strategic partners to design and deliver cost-effective processes. 

Building on current regulations, frameworks and best practices, the Mishcon Purpose Framework codifies eight material factors affecting a company's ability to protect and grow value. This forms the basis of much of our ESG advisory work and, combined with other specialist tools, it provides a unified approach for: 

• Benchmarking the degree and quality of an organisation's existing ESG governance relative to best practices, including the status of operational frameworks and legal documents 
• Identifying critical gaps and the policies, practices and processes necessary to fully embed ESG matters into strategy, governance and risk management 
• Illuminating how implementing best practices can protect and grow value, by supporting more informed decision-making, mitigating risks, improving access to capital, and driving positive social and environmental impact 

Take the first step in assessing your organisation's current ESG profile using our online tool. 

Transformative change only happens if it is hardwired into the procedures and accountability frameworks that determine how a business sets and pursues its objectives. This is where legal expertise is truly indispensable to the sustainability transition. We draw on the expertise of specialist teams from across the firm to help design and implement the policies, practices and processes necessary to align interests and decision-making, e.g.: 

• Drafting corporate constitutions, matters reserved to the board, and terms of reference of committees 
• Advising on executive and employee remuneration and incentive arrangements to increase engagement and encourage behaviours aligned with the achievement of ESG goals 
• Drafting policies and procedures relating to the implementation of proactive and anticipative risk management 
• Developing supply chain codes of conduct that encourage suppliers to flag emerging issues and challenges, and support joint learning and problem-solving to prevent and mitigate adverse impacts   
• Developing measures to guard against greenwashing in advertising, press responses and regulatory reporting 

Embedding ESG begins with ensuring that the highest governing bodies are sufficiently informed about the scale of impacts, risks and opportunities, and have sufficient knowledge and expertise to exercise effective oversight and management. We offer bespoke ESG for business leaders training on a variety of topics including: 

• The changing nature of value and fiduciary duty 
• The evolving landscape of sustainability-related regulation and litigation 
• Issue-specific briefings on key sustainability topics (e.g., climate change, biodiversity, equity, diversity and inclusion, supply chain resilience, and greenwashing and reputation management) 
• Adopting a systemic approach to integrating sustainability into core strategy and governance 

Ethical audits and supply chain investigations are vital, not only to detecting actual or potential adverse impacts on the environment and human rights, but also ensuring that standards of behaviour advocated in codes of conduct, policies and procedures are adhered to in practice. Our expert team can work with you to:  

• Apply best practice standards, specific to your industry  
• Identify opportunities to strengthen existing ethical codes of conduct 
• Develop a supplier code of conduct that provides clarity on minimum expectations across all material ESG issues, as well as encouraging continuous improvement 
• Develop and implement targets and metrics, against which to measure performance 
• Implement digital supply chain technologies, designed to increase visibility, accountability and efficiency with support from our award-winning team of data scientists, developers and consultants in our Cyber Risk and Complex Investigations team.