Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)

Integrity is critical to your business. Customers, investors, and government agencies increasingly expect businesses to address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in their decision-making, creating a minefield for businesses looking to either embrace or minimize this focus. Accusations of greenwashing, supply chain misbehavior, over-promising community involvement, an apathetic board of directors, and more can cause legal and reputational nightmares and permanently damage your business. Gallagher & Kennedy’s ESG Team uses a multidisciplinary approach to evaluate and resolve complex ESG issues in virtually every market sector. Through strategic legal counseling, legislative advocacy, and proactive risk management, our team helps with:

Environmental Issues:

Whether a company is looking to mitigate its negative environmental history, footprint, and impact or address external pressures and negative accusations, G&K helps clients navigate the laws and politics involved in ensuring the right environmental goals are set and met, reducing legal and reputational risk.

G&K’s environmental practice began at the firm’s founding in 1978 with the representation of mining and mineral processing operations. Learn more about the E in ESG.

Social License & Community Relations:

A company’s operations and corporate culture, and that of its key suppliers, impact both its employees and the communities in which it operates. Companies often create policies directed toward their employees and the community but don’t always know where to start when addressing social trends or how to implement or update policies as social expectations change. No matter how well-intentioned your efforts, the effect can be detrimental if not effectively communicated to key stakeholders, both internally and externally.

G&K’s legal counsel help clients remain good employers and stewards of their communities by ensuring processes are in place to achieve operational excellence, health and safety, inclusion, and philanthropic goals and efforts. Learn more about the S in ESG.

Governance:

Community, investor, and customer expectations of company management, particularly the Board of Directors have never been higher.  Implementation of best practices in corporate due diligence and effective governance is vital to the success of any business. These protocols and procedures help businesses optimally allocate roles and responsibilities and align the interests of various stakeholders in both internal efforts and external negotiations.

G&K’s ESG Team helps public and privately held businesses, boards of directors, governmental entities, non-profit organizations, and trade associations in all aspects of corporate accountability, governance, and operations.  The firm’s ESG practice is led by Stuart Kimball, providing a wide range of experience and approaches to environmental concerns.  Learn more about the G in ESG.

Let our team serve as your ESG counsel to help you develop and/or evaluate your ESG program and help you communicate your ESG policies and goals to the public through multiple complementary strategies.

ESG is not a new catchphrase. It’s in everything you do and key to everything you want to achieve. It’s part of your company’s core values, culture, and mission statement. It’s your passion. And it’s ours.