Month: August 2023

This is the second instalment in a series of episodes sponsored by Acre. If you’re not yet familiar with Paul Ellis and The Sustainable Finance Podcast, it boasts a series of interviews with sustainable finance experts from top companies and global organizations like Schroders, FTSE Russel, The London Stock Exchange Group, Gitterman Wealth Management, and many more. 

The episode features Gloria Mirrione in conversation with Paul Ellis, Charlotte Kaiser, Head of Impact Finance at BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, and Chris Larson at Alder Point Capital Management, to discuss how Nature Based Solutions provide powerful Net Zero opportunities to reduce the physical and transitional risks of climate change. 

If you like what you hear, stay tuned for more of this partnership airing over the next six months.

About Acre

At Acre, we work with the most aspirational businesses with potential to make real change; from those who are just starting out to those who are well on the journey to crafting a legacy.

Our 18 years’ experience in sustainability recruitment, combined with our extensive global network, enables us to provide talent solutions that are designed to deliver this change.

Through our unique behavioural assessment technology, we understand the types of people, skills and behaviours required to create impact. We can develop these qualities within your existing teams too.

We find talented people and develop their skills to ensure they make a true impact in ambitious, progressive organisations.

Acre. Making companies ready for tomorrow.

Originally published in Paramount’s 2021-2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report

What ends up on the screen – and how it gets there – is an important ESG consideration for our company. We adhere to standards and procedures to ensure accuracy of our content and creative independence, safeguard vulnerable groups, and handle challenging issues responsibly in our content and advertising.

Standards and Practices 

Paramount’s Standards and Practices department is responsible for overseeing advertising and original content shown on several of our key platforms. We work closely with producers, advertisers, and other partners to ensure that content complies with governmental regulations, cultural mores, internal standards, voluntary content ratings, and advertising guidelines. In addition to applicable regulations, Paramount maintains its own controls for content and advertisements developed and regularly updated in accordance with industry best practices, brand identities, advertiser and public expectations, and audience demographics.

To maintain its independence, the Standards and Practices group is not part of either the creative or ad sales groups. Rather, it reports directly to our corporate legal team.

Accountability for Diverse Content 

Our Standards and Practices department partners with internal groups such as Social Impact, Government Relations, and the Office of Global Inclusion (OGI) to ensure that our content and advertisements accurately represent the diverse perspectives and experiences of marginalized groups, while meeting all relevant moral, legal, and ethical standards.

Paramount’s day-to-day work on DE&I spans many topics and involves many groups, under the oversight of the OGI. Our Global Inclusion Advisory Committee (GIAC), a cross-functional leadership “think tank,” provides strategic insights into the direction of the diversity and inclusion initiatives in collaboration with the OGI team. GIAC is co-chaired by our CEO and our Global Head of Inclusion, along with leaders from across the company. The group drives and implements solutions that advance DE&I across our business, including through content, workforce and talent development, and community and social programs.

To inform and validate our efforts to develop diverse content, Paramount also regularly consults with organizations like Color Of Change, SeeALL, and SeeHer. To support DE&I practices within our full content creation lifecycle, we also work with the National Action Network, the NAACP, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Hispanic Heritage Foundation, and others.

Paramount’s Anti-Bias Policy on Content 

The Paramount library represents decades of content, and we recognize that some of our programs include culturally insensitive material and/or potentially offensive portrayals of people and/or cultures. As Paramount strives to create content that fully embraces diversity, inclusivity, and equity in all its forms, we believe that instead of removing this content, it’s important we use it to remain accountable: to acknowledge our history, learn from our failings, and spark dialogue that helps transform the world for the better – one person, one story, and one program at a time.

Ensuring Accuracy and Independence 

Across many parts of our business, such as our News divisions, we work diligently to uphold our commitment to journalistic integrity. Our creators and producers bring creativity and precision to the content they deliver to our audiences. In the news and public affairs programming we produce through CBS News, CBS Sports, Channel 5 in the UK, Telefe in Argentina, and Network 10 in Australia – as well as editorial units and programs across all our brands – accuracy is essential to maintaining our viewers’ trust. Key to this commitment is our editorial independence from external entities, including government agencies.

To ensure quality and accuracy, independence, and fairness in our news organizations, as well as, where appropriate, protecting the privacy of sources, we follow a set of established internal editorial policies and best practices. In addition, the dedicated research and reporting teams at CBS News, Channel 5 in the UK, Telefe in Argentina, and Network 10 in Australia follow a rigorous process for gathering and verifying content, guided by a commitment to journalistic integrity.

Intellectual Property and Copyright 

For Paramount, the protection of intellectual property (IP) is a priority because acts of piracy directly undermine the creators we work with every day. Such acts also directly affect our bottom line, resulting in lost revenue, lost jobs, and lost wages. In our Global Business Conduct Statement, Paramount sets clear standards and expectations regarding IP and copyright. In addition, our strict copyright policy sets clear guidelines for soliciting content through social media, as a means of protecting the IP we own, as well as other protected IP. Given the steady proliferation of new business models and distribution channels, we regularly review our policies and practices when protecting and valuing our IP.

Responsible Advertising 

To our audiences, the advertising we show can be just as influential as our content. That’s why our Standards and Practices group ensures that all commercial content meets the applicable government and legal requirements, self-regulatory industry guidelines, and company/brand standards. Our policies prohibit advertising for products such as tobacco, illegal drugs or services, pornography, and weapons. And our team also ensures that the advertisements we show do not portray discriminatory actions or harmful behaviors.

Recent years have seen a sea change in how advertisers want to reach key audiences. The divisiveness of the public discourse, as well as the rising prominence of social justice issues, have become mission critical for advertisers. In 2021, we received 16 separate requests from advertisers for information (RFIs) directly related to ESG topics. Nine of them had a focus on DE&I and others were related to environmental sustainability. Our Ad Sales team shares those DE&I-related RFIs with our ESG and OGI teams and we respond to them together.

We place special scrutiny and restrictions on advertisements related to highly sensitive categories like gambling, sportsbooks, religion, politics, and advocacy. There have been changing guidelines about sports gambling, both from the FCC and from partners, such as the NFL. Our policy permits advertisements for brick-and-mortar casinos that comply with federal, state and local laws, and regulations, and in which the gambling is incidental and does not include the exchange of money.

Advertisements for online sports gambling websites (sportsbook advertising) are subject to more stringent requirements. In addition to complying with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations, these advertisers must include on-screen legal text indicating age and state restrictions as well as a toll-free number and/or URL that vary by state to seek help with gambling addiction.

Advertisements for distilled spirits adhere to all industry self-regulatory requirements including a standardized audience composition. Additionally, we also assess placement for program appropriateness and brand considerations. All alcohol product advertisements should also contain a “responsible drinking” statement, and hard liquor advertisements must contain a video super – industry shorthand for superimposed text or graphics that appear on screen during a video presentation – indicating the alcohol content by volume.

Safeguards for Children 

For some of our brands, such as Nickelodeon, children are a central audience. Our responsibility to provide an appropriate experience for them is one we take seriously. Our brands are committed to meeting our obligations under the relevant laws and regulations pertaining to younger viewers globally, including the Children’s Television Act and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA); voluntary standards such as those from the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), the Motion Picture Association, and the Entertainment Software Rating Board in the U.S.; along with other global data protection and advertising laws and self-regulatory principles, including the UK’s Age Appropriate Design Code.

Paramount’s dedicated Standards and Practices department closely reviews much of our content to ensure that it is in alignment with the relevant regulatory and self-regulatory bodies. In addition, Nickelodeon reviews much of our content to ensure its fit within brand integrity, cultural sensitivities, social mores, and the TV Parental Guidelines system. Our systems are designed to protect the privacy of our audiences, as well as to ensure the appropriateness of content accessed through our online platforms.

Learn more in in Paramount’s 2021-2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., August 17, 2023 /3BL/ – Black & Veatch Chief Client Officer Patrick Hogan, who helps guide the global critical infrastructure leader’s alignment of its full portfolio of integrated solutions and services with clients’ needs, has been named to the executive board of regional nonprofit Climate Action KC (CAKC).

Championing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for a more resilient, equitable and healthy community, CAKC brings together more than 100 local and state elected officials along with leaders from civic, nonprofit, public and corporate organizations. As part of the governing board, Hogan brings expertise in decarbonization innovations and solutions – a key tenet of Black & Veatch’s service offerings to a diverse client segments and markets rapidly evolving with the acceleration of sustainability goals.

“With increasing episodes of dramatic, devastating effects of climate change come the imperatives of the urgent need to lower our carbon footprints. That begins locally, and Climate Action KC is at the forefront of visions of cleaner, greener communities where we live and work,” said Hogan.

“The work we do daily with our clients and our company’s own focus areas align with Climate Action KC’s objectives of creating a more resilient, equitable and healthy community, as exemplified in our recent 2023 corporate sustainability report,” added Hogan, who also serves on the company’s leadership team.

Hogan, who joined Black & Veatch in early 2023 after two decades with Honeywell, has deep experience in fostering collaboration, from building sales communities to cultivating client relationships and taking cutting-edge solutions to market to address the changing needs of government, utility, commercial and industrial clients.

“With his deep technical background, Patrick will help the Climate Action KC stay engaged with the ever-evolving climate technology, as well as the priorities of the private sector in the Kansas City region,” said Hillary Parker Thomas, CAKC’s board chair. “Representing Black & Veatch, a company with an aggressive zero-carbon commitment, Patrick’s perspective and skills are an excellent addition to the leadership of the board.”

A key focus of CAKC is its Climate Action Plan first published in 2021, calling for local governments to collaborate on achieving zero net emissions in a 10-county region around Kansas City by 2050. The nonprofit believes that’s doable through such things as investing in renewable energy sources and making buildings more energy efficient.

Editor’s Notes: 

For a high-resolution image of Patrick Hogan, click here.

About Black & Veatch 
Black & Veatch is a 100-percent employee-owned global engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company with a more than 100-year track record of innovation in sustainable infrastructure. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people around the world by addressing the resilience and reliability of our most important infrastructure assets. Our revenues in 2022 were US$4.3 billion. Follow us on www.bv.com and on social media.

About Climate Action KC 
Climate Action KC is a nonprofit regional collaborative that brings elected officials and community leaders together to reduce emissions, invigorate the economy, promote public health and improve the quality of life across the Kansas City region. CAKC recently published its Regional Climate Action Plan in coordination with the Mid-America Regional Council for the bi-state metropolitan area of 10 counties in Missouri and Kansas. For more information about Climate Action KC, click here.

Media Contact Information:

JIM SUHR | +1 913-458-6995 P | SuhrJ@BV.com 
24-HOUR MEDIA CONTACT | Media@bv.com

Can you read tea leaves? No doubt that is what both corporate sector and capital markets leaders are doing as they peruse the possible meanings of SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s recent comments at the FSOC (Financial Stability Oversight Council) regarding the pending “Final Rule” on corporate climate-related risk disclosure.

Chair Gensler said in his remarks: “The SEC has no role as to climate risk. But we do have an important role in helping to ensure that public companies make full, fair, and truthful disclosure about the material risks they face. Already today, issuers are making climate risk disclosures, and investors are making investment decisions based on those disclosures. Indeed, a majority of the top thousand [corporate] issuers by market cap already make such disclosures, including what’s known as Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions.”

NOTE: In Chair Gensler’s published remarks, which are our Top Story below, he cited G&A Institute’s comprehensive annual research on corporate ESG / sustainability disclosure by S&P 500® and Russell 1000® companies as the basis for his statement on Scope 1 and 2 emissions disclosures by the top thousand issuers.

The SEC issued a draft rule in November 2022 – “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors” – which has drawn a dramatic 15,000 comments that the agency is “carefully” reviewing in structuring the Final Rule. In his remarks to the FSOC, Chair Gensler said, “We greatly benefit from public input and, given the economics and the law, will consider adjustments to the proposed rule that the staff, and ultimately the Commission, think are appropriate in light of those comments.”

While there was no official word from the SEC chair on when we can expect the Final Rule, it was important that his comments were delivered to a group of influentials in federal financial and banking regulation. The FSOC was created after the 2008 financial crisis and is made up of representatives from the important U.S. regulatory agencies, such as Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen, who chairs the Council. There are 10 voting members (including chairs of the Federal Reserve, FDIC, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and SEC) and five non-voting members.

In October 2021, the FSOC issued a new report in response to President Biden’s EO 14030, “Climate Related Financial Risk,” and identified climate change as an emerging and increasing threat to U.S. financial stability. At that time, the SEC had begun to evaluate its corporate and investor disclosure rules and requested public comment on ways to improve climate disclosure.

A key question as we await the release of the SEC’s Final Rule: were Chair Gensler’s comments a pro forma update for fellow members of the FSOC, or a signal that the Final Rule incorporating changes from the public input is about to be released?

The release of the Final Rule will come in the tense atmosphere created by anti-ESG proponents at federal and state public sector levels. Republicans in Congress are busy with attacks on ESG, holding hearings and passing bills designed to reduce the use of ESG metrics and methodologies by investors. We’re seeing increased pressure now from both pro-ESG and anti-ESG sides, but the SEC is focused on staying true to its mission of protecting investors. The G&A team will continue to monitor this important development for public company disclosure of climate-related risk.

This is just the introduction of G&A’s Sustainability Highlights newsletter this week. Click here to view the full issue.