How ESG Impacts Board Members

A report published in 2021 by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance divides companies into three maturity levels according to their practices for ESG disclosures—laggards, middle of the pack, and frontrunners—and the role of the board plays a significant part in determining each maturity level. Laggards have no defined role for their boards, while board oversight for middle-of-the-road companies is only “scant at best.” For frontrunners, however, “ESG strategy is regularly reviewed by board/committees and embedded in core operations.”